Connecting Anchor Institutions: A Vision of Our Future
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016
Today's Events: SHLB Annual Conference: https://www.benton.org/node/229748
FCC Open Meeting: https://www.benton.org/node/233046
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Connecting Anchor Institutions: A Vision of Our Future - SHLB Vision Paper
FCC Lifeline Modernization Order - public notice
Tribal Internet Access: Increased Federal Coordination and Performance Measurement Needed - GAO report
How a cable mega-deal could finally (and indirectly) make it easier to get good Internet [links to Benton summary]
Comcast is raising its data caps — and the fee to get rid of them [links to Benton summary]
This summer, Congress must make sure the Internet stays free - The Hill op-ed [links to Benton summary]
The damaging effects of a flawed Internet creation myth - AEI op-ed [links to Benton summary]
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
Senate Commerce Committee Approves FCC Reauthorization and Six Other Bills - press release
House Unanimously Passes E-mail Privacy Act
Sen Ted Cruz's Cuba and Muni Broadband-Related Amendments Withdrawn
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
New study: Snowden’s disclosures about NSA spying had a scary effect on free speech
OWNERSHIP
Making a Cable Merger Safe for Consumers - NYT editorial
Getty ramps up pressure on Google with image search complaint
Comcast reportedly in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation [links to Los Angeles Times]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC Seeks Comment on Mobile Media Technologies Petition for Declaratory Ruling or Retroactive Waiver [links to Federal Communications Commission]
Comcast: We can make 5G work [links to Benton summary]
Wi-Fi IoT Forecast: New Frequency Bands Will Drive Growth [links to telecompetitor]
Toronto Gets Its Own Free, Encrypted Mesh Network [links to Benton summary]
Survey: 81% Own or Have Interest in Smart Home Devices [links to telecompetitor]
AT&T IoT: Solar Deal; Integrated Cellular Plus Satellite Service [links to telecompetitor]
TELEVISION
FCC Seeks Comment on ATSC 3.0 Petition [links to Benton summary]
AT&T’s plan to build a wireless-TV bundle seems to be working [links to Benton summary]
Why the Future of Cord Cutting Is Murkier Than Ever [links to Vice]
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
Activists to give Google petition against RNC sponsorship [links to Benton summary
Donald Trump Praises The Media After A Nearly Year-Long Attack On The Press [links to Media Matters for America]
Op-Ed: Trump’s sweep is another humiliating defeat for media and political elites [links to Washington Post]
COURTS
Court rules Amazon unfairly billed for kids' app purchases [links to Hill, The]
ADVERTISING
Facebook mobile ads now make up 79 percent of its business [links to Revere Digital]
JOURNALISM
Will readers pay for local news? A digital startup in Tulsa bets that they will [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
EDUCATION
IBM Watson to build tech with Sesame Street [links to CNNMoney]
Op-Ed: Professors hate online education. To save colleges, they have to learn to love it. [links to Washington Post]
POLICYMAKERS
Rupert Murdoch’s ‘man in Washington’ is leaving top lobbyist post at 21st Century Fox [links to Benton summary]
PRINCE
How Prince revolutionized the Internet — according to the webmaster who helped him do it [links to Sam Jennings]
STORIES FROM ABROAD, EH?
Toronto Gets Its Own Free, Encrypted Mesh Network [links to Benton summary]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
CONNECTING ANCHOR INSTITUTIONS: A VISION OF OUR FUTURE
[SOURCE: Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, AUTHOR: Christine Mullins]
To meet the goals of the National Broadband Plan, America must renew its commitment to bring affordable multi-gigabit speed broadband access by 2020 to thousands of Community Anchor Institutions (CAIs) – the schools, libraries, health clinics, and community centers that hold our communities together. That is the message in a new “Vision” Paper being released by the SHLB Coalition titled, “Connecting Anchor Institutions: A Broadband Vision of Our Future,” written by Christine Mullins with a foreword from Blair Levin. Key findings in the paper illustrate why action is needed, including:
Just 65 percent of public schools have a fiber connection. And 63 percent are below the gigabit goal, meaning nearly 40 million children are without enough bandwidth for digital learning.
About 42 percent of all public libraries have a broadband connection 10 Mbps or slower.
Rural health clinics face a significant broadband speed gap compared to metro communities, impacting Electronic Medical Records and Health Information Exchanges.
“Our investment in bringing high-capacity broadband to anchors institutions, and through anchors to the rest of the community, will determine whether the country will be divided between digital ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots,’ or whether we capture the benefits of the Internet for all people,” said Adrianne B. Furniss, Executive Director of the Benton Foundation, the publisher of SHLB’s broadband action plan. “High-capacity broadband allows anchor institutions to expand their crucial missions so every student and citizen can reach their potential and be a full participant in our increasingly digital world.”
[Benton Foundation was a sponsor and publisher of the action plan]
benton.org/headlines/connecting-anchor-institutions-vision-our-future | Schools | Press release
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FCC LIFELINE MODERNIZATION ORDER
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public notice]
In this Order, we adopt reforms to make the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program a key driver of the solution to our Nation’s broadband affordability challenge. Intended initially as a mechanism to reduce the cost of phone service for low-income customers, the Lifeline program has worked in lockstep with telephone providers and consumers to increase the uptake in phone service throughout the country and has kept pace with changes in technology as the Nation moved from a wireline world to one where the number of mobile devices and services now exceeds the population of the United States. But at a time when our economy and lives are increasingly moving online and millions of Americans remain offline, the Lifeline program must keep pace with this technological evolution to fulfill its core mission. The Order we adopt focuses the Lifeline program on broadband by encouraging broadband providers to offer supported broadband services that meet standards we set to ensure ratepayers supporting the program are obtaining value for their contributions and Lifeline subscribers can participate fully in today’s society. We also take important steps to improve the management and design of the program by streamlining program rules and eliminating outdated program obligations with the goal of providing incentives for broadband providers to participate and increasing competition and meaningful broadband offerings to Lifeline subscribers. Finally, we follow through on the important and highly effective reforms the Commission initiated in 2012 by making several additional changes to combat waste, fraud, and abuse, including establishing a National Lifeline Eligibility Verifier that will remove the responsibility of determining Lifeline subscriber eligibility from providers.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-lifeline-modernization-order | Federal Communications Commission | Wheeler Statement | Clyburn Statement | Rosenworcel Statement | Pai Dissent | O'Rielly Dissent
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TRIBAL INTERNET ACCESS
[SOURCE: Government Accountability Office, AUTHOR: Mark Goldstein]
High-speed Internet service is viewed as a critical component of the nation's infrastructure and an economic driver, particularly to remote tribal communities. This testimony examines: (1) perspectives of tribes and providers on high-speed Internet access and barriers to increasing this access; (2) the level of interrelation and coordination between federal programs that promote high-speed Internet access on tribal lands; and (3) existing data and performance measures related to high-speed Internet on tribal lands. This statement is based on GAO's January 2016 report (GAO-16-222). For this report, the Government Accountability Office visited or interviewed officials from a non-generalizable sample of 21 tribal entities and 6 service providers. GAO also reviewed Federal Communications Commission and US Department of Agriculture fiscal year 2010 through 2014 program data, funding, and materials and interviewed federal officials. In January 2016, GAO recommended that FCC take the following actions in tribal areas: (1) develop joint training and outreach with USDA; (2) develop performance goals and measures for improving broadband availability to households; (3) develop performance goals and measures for improving broadband availability to schools and libraries; and (4) improve the reliability of FCC data related to institutions that receive E-rate funding by defining “tribal” on the program application. FCC agreed with the recommendations.
benton.org/headlines/tribal-internet-access-increased-federal-coordination-and-performance-measurement-needed | Government Accountability Office
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CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
SEN COMMERCE COMMITTEE APPROVES FCC REAUTHORIZATION AND SIX OTHER BILLS
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Senate Commerce Committee approved the reauthorization for the Federal Communications Commission, six other bills, and nominations. Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) provided the following statement on approval of the FCC reauthorization bill: “Today, the Commerce Committee approved a measure to reauthorize the FCC for the first time in 25 years,” said Chairman Thune. “It’s been a priority of mine this Congress to formally reauthorize the FCC and I’m pleased that we approved this long-overdue, noncontroversial measure. The Commerce Committee has been very active this Congress doing the important work of approving bills like the FCC reauthorization while pushing forward on thoughtful reforms.” Bills and nominations approved are as follows:
1) The FCC Reauthorization Act of 2016 (S 2644) Sponsor: Sen John Thune (R-SD)
2) Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2015 (S 421), Sponsors: Sens Dean Heller (R-NV), Steve Daines (R-MT), approved with roll call vote of 13-11
3) Developing Innovation and Growing the Internet of Things (DIGIT) Act (S 2607) , Sponsors: Sens Deb Fischer (R-NE), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Brian Schatz (D-HI)
4) Youth Sports Concussions Act (S 2508), Sponsors: Sens Tom Udall (D-NM), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
5) Maritime Administration Authorization and Enhancement Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (S 2829), Sponsors: Sens Deb Fischer (R-NE), Cory Booker (D-NJ)
6) Digital Coast Act of 2015 (S 2325), Sponsors: Sens Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Lisa Murkowksi (R-AK), Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
7) Space Weather Research and Forecasting Act (S 2817), Sponsors: Sen Gary Peters (D-MI), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ)
benton.org/headlines/senate-commerce-committee-approves-fcc-reauthorization-and-six-other-bills | US Senate Commerce Committee | Broadcasting & Cable | The Hill | Broadcasting & Cable | Public Knowledge
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HOUSE UNANIMOUSLY PASSES E-MAIL PRIVACY ACT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
The House unanimously passed an e-mail privacy bill that the technology industry and advocates pushed for years. The Email Privacy Act had the most public backers of any bill in Congress, and it passed 419-0. The bill closes off a loophole in the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act to ensure that law enforcement gets a warrant before forcing technology companies to hand over customers' e-mails or other electronic communications, no matter how old they are. Though the outdated provision is no longer used by most agencies, the law technically allows law enforcement to use a subpoena — rather than a warrant — to get e-mails if they are more than 180 days old. When the law was enacted, there were large technical limits to storing data online. The bill's outlook in the Senate is uncertain, but pressure will quickly turn to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who has not advanced a similar bill out of committee. In the past, he has been sensitive to law enforcement and civil agency concerns with the legislation. Ahead of the House vote, he said "there is a lot of interest in taking it up" but provided no timeline. "We urge the Senate to take up and pass this bipartisan, common-sense legislation without delay," said the sponsors of the upper chamber's bill, Sens Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Lee (R-UT). To make it to the House floor, the bill went through a series of small changes in committee, which privacy advocates were not happy about. However, they ended up endorsing the compromise in order to close off the 180-day loophole in the 30-year-old law.
benton.org/headlines/house-unanimously-passes-e-mail-privacy-act | Hill, The | Broadcasting&Cable | USA Today | ALA | Vice | Reactions
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CRUZ'S CUBA-RELATED AMENDMENTS WITHDRAWN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) has withdrawn a couple of amendments to a Federal Communications Commission reauthorization bill being marked up in the Senate Commerce Committee that would have targeted Administration efforts to loosen communications restrictions on Cuba. Also withdrawn was an amendment Sen Cruz co-sponsored that would have reined in the FCC's preemption of state laws limiting municipal broadband buildouts. Still in the running, though with modifications, was an amendment he introduced requiring a GAO study of federal spectrum opportunity costs and technology by Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL). Sen Rubio has been a big backer of freeing up more spectrum for wireless broadband.
benton.org/headlines/sen-ted-cruzs-cuba-and-muni-broadband-related-amendments-withdrawn | Broadcasting&Cable
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
SNOWDEN DISCLOSURES HAD SCARY EFFECT ON FREE SPEECH
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jeff Guo]
In June 2013, reporters at The Washington Post and the Guardian ran a series of stories about the US government’s surveillance programs. According to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency was harvesting huge swaths of online traffic — far beyond what had been disclosed — and was working directly with top Internet companies to spy on certain people. Glenn Greenwald, one of the Guardian journalists who reported the disclosures and a surveillance skeptic, argued in a 2014 TED talk that privacy is a critical feature of open society. People act differently when they know they're being watched. “Essential to what it means to be a free and fulfilled human being is to have a place that we can go and be free of the judgmental eyes of other people,” he said. The problem, though, is that it's difficult to judge the effect of government-spying programs. How do you collect all the utterances that people stopped themselves from saying? How do you count all the conversations that weren’t had? A new study provides some insight into the repercussions of the Snowden revelations, arguing that they happened so swiftly and were so high-profile that they triggered a measurable shift in the way people used the Internet. Jonathon Penney, a PhD candidate at Oxford, analyzed Wikipedia traffic in the months before and after the NSA’s spying became big news in 2013. Penney found a 20 percent decline in page views on Wikipedia articles related to terrorism, including those that mentioned “al-Qaeda,” “car bomb” or “Taliban.” "You want to have informed citizens," Penney said. "If people are spooked or deterred from learning about important policy matters like terrorism and national security, this is a real threat to proper democratic debate."
benton.org/headlines/new-study-snowdens-disclosures-about-nsa-spying-had-scary-effect-free-speech | Washington Post
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OWNERSHIP
MAKING A CABLE MERGER SAFE FOR CONSUMERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
Telecommunications companies often use mergers to limit consumer choice and raise prices. That’s why federal regulators are right to seek tough conditions before approving a deal that would combine three cable companies. The proposed deal involves Charter Communications’s $65.5 billion acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The new Charter would be the country’s second-largest broadband company, after Comcast, and the third-largest cable and satellite-TV company, after Comcast and AT&T, which last year acquired DirecTV. There is no question that these acquisitions would give Charter significantly more power over millions of consumers, media companies and Internet businesses like Netflix and Amazon. The proposed deals, like the statellite-TV company Dish Network, want regulators to block the Charter deals altogether, as the government did in 2015 when it stopped Comcast from acquiring Time Warner Cable. But it would be hard to convince a judge that the Charter deals should not go through. If Comcast had been allowed to acquire Time Warner Cable, the company would have clearly dominated the industry in a way that the new Charter would not. Comcast’s proposal would have given it control of about 60 percent of the national broadband market, along with outsize influence over how Americans use the Internet. The postmerger Charter would have only 23 percent of that market. That said, the Charter acquisitions clearly pose antitrust problems. They would increase consolidation in an important industry where power is already concentrated in the hands of a few companies. Regulators should fully enforce these merger conditions if the deals go through and come up with other policies to encourage more competition.
benton.org/headlines/making-cable-merger-safe-consumers | New York Times
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GETTY RAMPS UP PRESSURE ON GOOGLE WITH IMAGE SEARCH COMPLAINT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
Getty Images filed a complaint against Google at the European Commission, accusing the search giant of promoting piracy to solidify its market dominance. The photo service specifically called out Google’s 2013 change to its image search, which allowed users to see high-resolution photos rather than “low res thumbnails” that might encourage users to click through to see a better-quality image. “By creating its own captive, image-rich environment and cutting off user traffic to competing websites — and reserving that traffic exclusively for its own benefit — Google is able to maintain and reinforce its dominance in search,” Getty’s general counsel, Yoko Miyashita, said. Getty said the 2013 change immediately started diverting traffic away from its own site, which the company said is hurting the livelihood of the 200,000 photographers who use Getty to distribute images. While the complaint was filed with European regulators, Getty said “antitrust authorities around the world should take action.”
benton.org/headlines/getty-ramps-pressure-google-image-search-complaint | Hill, The
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