BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012
The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology holds a hearing today -- Cybersecurity: Threats to Communications Networks and Private-Sector Responses http://benton.org/calendar/2012-02-08/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Global broadband snapshot: Hong Kong throttles the rest of the world
Will Google’s Insanely-Fast Kansas City Network Shame U.S. ISPs?
Tales from the front lines of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program
Broadband oversight proposed in West Virginia
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Lawmakers Remain Hopeful About Spectrum Bill's Prospects
Wireless crunch faces political 'solutions' - analysis
Google Is Said to Assure Fair Licensing for Motorola Patents
LightSquared asks FCC to set tough standards for GPS receivers
Where the Jobs Are: The App Economy - research
At Super Bowl Stadium, More Mobile Uploads Than Downloads
Phoenix Center: Less Wireless Competition Equals Lower Prices
Dish Gets Canadian Approval for TerreStar Switch
PRIVACY
Facebook will release more user data: lobby group
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Cable Leads the Pack as Campaign News Source - research
Election News Tops Public Interest and Coverage [links to web]
Scripps Stations Expand Offer to Candidates [links to web]
BROADCASTING
When Whinosaurs Attack! - op-ed
Chicago Public Radio shifts NPR shows to make room for more Chicago programming [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Net freedom experts disagree on Twitter censorship
JOURNALISM
Cable Leads the Pack as Campaign News Source - research
Election News Tops Public Interest and Coverage [links to web]
On Twitter, Still Tough Going for Komen - research [links to web]
Center for Investigative Reporting, The Bay Citizen explore Merger - press release [links to web]
Why the 2012 Presidential Race Will Be Defined By Data - op-ed [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
California Pension Fund to Engage With Facebook on Governance
Can Facebook pursue a social mission and go public at the same time?
CONTENT
Judge denies EMI's bid to halt resale of digital music
What Wikipedia Won’t Tell You - op-ed
How AOL—Aka Facebook 1.0—Blew Its Lead - op-ed [links to web]
LOBBYING
AT&T shareholders demand answers
What Wikipedia Won’t Tell You - op-ed
LABOR
Silicon Valley job growth sizzles in 2011, but new report also issues warnings
TELECOM
Finally, a “Clear Policy Statement” on Rural Call Termination Problems [links to web]
The FCC’s Quantile Regression Analysis is Fatally Flawed, Period - editorial [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
House Science Committee approves network research bill [links to web]
In Data Deluge, Multitaskers Go to Multiscreens [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
GLOBAL BROADBAND SNAPSHOT
[SOURCE: Network World, AUTHOR: Brad Reed]
Anyone who thinks their Verizon fiber connection is fast ought to spend a week hanging out in East Asia. According to an informal survey of advertised global broadband speeds conducted by IDG publications around the world (IDG publishes Network World), East Asian countries boast some of the fastest advertised connections around, with four countries featuring at least one carrier claiming average download speeds of 100Mbps or higher. The leader of the pack is Hong Kong, with advertised broadband download speeds of a whopping 300Mbps and 300Mbps upload speeds to match. Other East Asia countries in the 100Mbps download club include Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, all of which have at least one ISP advertising those rates. Other countries that have ISPs advertising 100Mbps or higher speeds are Poland, Germany and Canada. What's even more impressive than some of the advertised speeds in many of the 100Mbps+ countries is the service prices. Hong Kong's 300Mbps service, for instance, costs just $40 a month and includes television service. Taiwan's 100Mbps service, meanwhile, costs $24 a month, while South Korea's costs $31 a month. In the United States, by contrast, 25Mbps Internet access will run you about $75 per month and doesn't include television.
benton.org/node/112610 | Network World
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GOOGLE OUT TO SHAME ISPs
[SOURCE: Time, AUTHOR: Sam Gustin]
This week, Google began laying miles of fiber-optic cable across Kansas City, Kansas and neighboring Kansas City, Missouri. Google’s goal? To show off its telecom engineering chops and showcase next-generation web-applications. Oh, and maybe shame the big national broadband providers into improving U.S. Internet service speed, which currently lags behind many other countries around the world. Google’s Kansas City network is not just a stunt: the company is implicitly making a broader point about the lack of broadband competition in the U.S., which is one of the reasons broadband is slower and more expensive here. If Google is successful, it could embarrass — or at least call out — existing ISPs once it becomes clear that much faster broadband speeds are possible in major U.S. cities. For comparison, Verizon’s ultra high-end FiOS plan tops out at 150 megabits-per-second. Google’s Kansas City network will boast blazing speeds of 1 gigabit-per-second, or nearly seven-times that of Verizon. Google wants more people online with faster connections, in order to better provide and expand its web-based services around the country. That’s why Google has traditionally advocated for open, high-speed networks and complained about U.S. broadband speeds. “
benton.org/node/112611 | Time
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BTOP TALES
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is producing jobs, driving growth, providing tools for economic empowerment and improving lives across the country. That was the takeaway from a recent panel discussion at the annual State of the Net conference held in Washington, D.C. last month. The conference, which is organized by the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus, explores the biggest technology policy issues of the day. This year’s conference included a panel devoted to BTOP, a Recovery Act program administered by NTIA that is investing in roughly 230 projects to increase broadband access and adoption around the country. The BTOP infrastructure projects are bringing broadband to places where it’s lagging and supplying high-capacity connections to schools, hospitals and other anchor institutions that need more bandwidth. These projects are also spurring private-sector investment since local Internet providers can connect to these critical new "middle mile" facilities to serve more homes and businesses. The BTOP adoption programs are teaching computer and digital literacy skills, providing online job search and resume writing assistance, and even training people for technical jobs in the information-age economy. And the BTOP computer centers - located in schools, libraries and other public buildings - are providing broadband access for people who want to go online but lack the resources at home. The State of the Net panel was moderated by Anthony Wilhelm, who directs the BTOP program for NTIA. But the real stars were the panelists themselves: leaders from five very different BTOP projects across the country who spoke about how Recovery Act investments are closing the digital divide and building the technology infrastructure and skills that America needs to compete in the 21st Century. Throughout the week, we will provide snapshots of each of these projects, along with highlights from each panelist’s remarks. See links to the first two below.
benton.org/node/112643 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration | BTOP Case Study One | BTOP Case Study Two
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BROADBAND OVERSIGHT PROPOSED IN WV
[SOURCE: Charleston Gazette, AUTHOR: Eric Eyre]
The West Virginia Public Service Commission already has a say in what West Virginians pay for water, sewer and electric service. Could high-speed Internet join the list? State legislators have introduced a bill (SB491) that would allow the PSC to regulate broadband expansion projects -- and the subsequent prices customers pay for their new Internet service. The legislation is designed to stop Frontier Communications and other large broadband providers from driving out competition. Frontier strongly opposes the bill, saying it's unnecessary.
benton.org/node/112606 | Charleston Gazette
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
SPECTRUM BILL THIS YEAR?
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Two key lawmakers said that despite some differences between the House and Senate approaches to the issue, they are still hopeful spectrum legislation will be included in a package to extend a payroll tax cut. House and Senate lawmakers on the payroll tax cut conference committee met again to try and hammer out differences between the two chambers' versions of the legislation but did not discuss spectrum. Still, House Commerce ranking member Henry Waxman (D-CA), one of the House Democratic conferees, said that staffers are meeting and making slow progress on ways to narrow differences between the House-GOP passed spectrum legislation, which was included in a one-year extension of the payroll tax bill, and a stand-alone bipartisan spectrum bill approved last summer by the Senate Commerce Committee.
benton.org/node/112652 | National Journal
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POLITICAL SOLUTIONS FOR WIRELESS CRUNCH
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: James Temple]
[Commentary] The flipside to the mobile revolution is that we're rapidly approaching a wireless spectrum crunch. As spiraling numbers of consumers watch video, stream music and send pictures on their smart phones, various carriers say they're just a few years from hitting their capacity wall. The Federal Communications Commission has said we'll reach a spectrum deficit as soon as 2013 if nothing is done. It will mean slower speeds, dropped calls, higher prices and less mobile innovation. Among other things, the challenge demands freeing up underused capacity in the airwaves, such as the television "white space" used as a buffer between channels. But the FCC, Congress, industry players and consumer advocates are arguing about the appropriate approach. Some Republican legislators seem latent. Primarily intent on delivering big-bowed gifts to incumbent players, ensuring advantages for AT&T and Verizon as the companies continue the quest to lock down the wireless spectrum and shift the industry ever closer to a full-fledged duopoly. In the long run, that would mean less innovation, higher prices and worse service for consumers.
benton.org/node/112662 | San Francisco Chronicle
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GOOGLE-MOTOROLA PATENTS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Edmund Lee, Brian Womack]
Google, the largest maker of smartphone software, plans to send a letter to standards organizations reassuring them it will license Motorola Mobility Holdings patents on a fair and reasonable basis, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. The letter, to be signed by a senior Google lawyer, is likely to be sent within the next 24 hours, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t yet public. The move would come after a deadline passed for Google to submit remedies to the European Commission, which is evaluating the plan to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. Google, which has drawn scrutiny over the acquisition of Motorola Mobility’s patents, plans to send the letter to several standards organizations, the people said. The groups would include the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, a nonprofit recognized by the European Union. Sending the letter is a “good step” for Google, said Maulin Shah, managing director of patent research firm Envision IP.
benton.org/node/112658 | Bloomberg
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LIGHTSQUARED HAS NEW REQUEST FOR FCC
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Wireless startup LightSquared asked the Federal Communications Commission to set tough technical standards for the design of GPS devices. LightSquared has invested billions of dollars to launch a wireless broadband service, but tests last year showed its planned network could interfere with GPS devices. The company says the problem is that GPS receivers are poorly designed and are receiving signals from outside their designated frequency bands. "If GPS devices had stayed in their own lane, there wouldn't be an issue with LightSquared's network," said Jeff Carlisle, LightSquared's vice president of regulatory affairs. Carlisle accused GPS companies of making "a too big to fail argument" by saying the FCC should give them special protection because of the importance of their devices.
benton.org/node/112650 | Hill, The | GigaOm | Reuters
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THE APP ECONOMY
[SOURCE: TechNet, AUTHOR: Michael Mandel]
This study shows that there are now roughly 466,000 jobs in the “App Economy” in the United States, up from zero in 2007. The study also found that App Economy jobs are spread throughout the nation. The top metro area for App Economy jobs is New York City and its surrounding suburban counties, although together San Francisco and San Jose together substantially exceed New York. And while California tops the list of App Economy states with nearly one in four jobs, states such as Georgia, Florida, and Illinois get their share as well. In fact, more than two-thirds of App Economy employment is outside of California and New York. The results also suggest that the App Economy is growing quickly and that the location and number of app-related jobs are likely to shift greatly in the years ahead.
benton.org/node/112613 | TechNet
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SUPER UPLOADS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen]
In addition to beer and popcorn, football fans who crowded into the Super Bowl stadium in Indianapolis over the weekend were consuming copious amounts of data from wireless networks. AT&T, the nation’s No. 2 carrier, said it saw more data use at this year’s big game than any other sporting event. Interestingly, the data use came mostly from people sharing content as opposed to downloading. John Donovan, AT&T’s senior executive vice president of technology and network operations, said that AT&T customers in Lucas Oil Stadium uploaded 40 percent more data than they downloaded, posting lots of video and photos and shooting out thousands of messages.
benton.org/node/112625 | New York Times
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LESS COMPETITION EQUALS LOWER PRICES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies released a policy paper to support the argument that in a world of spectrum constraint, fewer firms, not more, providing wireless broadband can actually lead to lower prices and "possibly" increased investment and employment in the sector. The paper argues that what it says is the FCC's desire to impede incumbent carriers (like AT&T and Verizon) from acquiring more spectrum "via auction or acquisition" may do more harm than good. "[P]rices will likely fall as scarce spectrum resources are employed more efficiently," says the paper, "permitting firms to increase output in response to rising demand for bandwidth. With more firms, total industry capacity is lower, so that rising demand must be rationed with higher prices."
benton.org/node/112620 | Broadcasting&Cable | read the paper
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DISH-TERRESTAR
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Canadian regulatory body Industry Canada has approved the transfer of TerreStar's Canadian wireless spectrum licenses to Dish Network. Dish, which is still awaiting the nod from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, said it would immediately close the TerreStar transaction once it receives FCC approval. The FCC has not made its decision yet, but has been supportive from a policy standpoint of promoting new competitive wireless broadband service to compete with established players.
Dish agreed to purchase TerreStar out of bankruptcy protection in July for about $1.375 billion. TerreStar controls about 20 MHz of wireless spectrum and coupled with an additional 20 MHz of spectrum controlled by DBSD North America - which Dish agreed to purchase last February for $1.4 billion -- could provide the building blocks for the satellite giant's own hybrid satellite/terrestrial broadband wireless network.
benton.org/node/112619 | Multichannel News
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PRIVACY
EUROPE VS FACEBOOK
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Michael Shields]
Social media network Facebook has promised to release more information about the data it collects from millions of users, an Austrian group lobbying for respect of privacy laws said. Facebook had agreed in December to overhaul privacy protection for more than half a billion users outside North America after a three-month Irish investigation found that its privacy policies were overly complex and lacked transparency. At a six-hour meeting in Vienna with the europe-v-facebook.org group, Facebook officials pledged more openness.
benton.org/node/112649 | Reuters
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
PEW: CABLE LEADING CAMPAIGN NEWS SOURCE
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, AUTHOR: ]
With a contested primary in only one party this year, fewer Americans are closely following news about the presidential campaign than four years ago. As a consequence, long-term declines in the number of people getting campaign news from such sources as local TV and network news have steepened, and even the number gathering campaign news online, which had nearly tripled between 2000 and 2008, has leveled off in 2012. The one constant over the course of the past four elections is the reach of cable news. Currently, 36% of Americans say they are regularly learning about the candidates or campaign on cable news networks. That is virtually unchanged from previous campaigns, yet cable news is now the top regular source for campaign news. The cable networks also hosted most of the candidate debates, which stand out as a particularly interesting aspect of the campaign. Nearly half of Republicans (47%) have watched a GOP debate during this campaign, up from 32% at a comparable point four years ago.
benton.org/node/112615 | Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
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BROADCASTING
WHEN WHINOSAURS ATTACK!
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Craig Aaron]
[Commentary] From the same people who brought you Fear Factor, Temptation Island and When Animals Attack! comes one of the most-shocking-but-true stories of hubris, greed and endless griping imaginable. This is a tale of the vastly powerful but sniveling giants who control your TV, dictate much of our political discourse and get rich doing it -- all while evading even the most basic forms of public accountability. This isn't just another reality show -- it's the reality of what's airing on every local TV station. And as far as station owners and their lobbyists are concerned, their business is none of yours. Broadcasters have pocketed gazillions over the years while using the airwaves free of charge. In exchange, they're supposed to serve the public interest with programming that reflects community needs. But the Federal Communications Commission's modest attempts to hold broadcasters to their end of the bargain are being met by a teeth-gnashing, fire-breathing rhetoric... and pitiful mewling about how hard it is to use a computer.
benton.org/node/112640 | Huffington Post, The
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
TWITTER CENSORSHIP
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Joseph Marks]
At a panel discussion on global Internet freedom sponsored by the Media Access Project, experts were split on whether Twitter's new policy to allow country-specific censorship represents a fundamental failure to protect free speech, or is simply the price of doing business globally. Meg Roggensack, a senior adviser at Human Rights First, said Twitter effectively had sided with repressive governments rather than activists and citizens. "There's really no middle here," she said. "Either you're on the side of an open Internet, or you're enabling repression. We really think that's the choice." David Sullivan, policy director for the Global Network Initiative, disagreed. He said the social media company was making an inevitable compromise by agreeing to remove or prohibit information only in response to an official government request or court order and to clearly note when information had been removed. Twitter also has said it won't allow national governments to censor what's seen outside those countries, so some experts have suggested anyone who wants to Tweet something controversial, or to read controversial Tweets, simply can change the country location in their profile.
benton.org/node/112639 | nextgov
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OWNERSHIP
FACEBOOK GOVERNANCE
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Douglas MacMillan]
Facebook faces corporate-governance scrutiny from one of its investors, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg controls 56.9 percent of voting power at the social network, which filed last week to raise $5 billion in an IPO. Corporate-governance experts have said that the CEO’s majority control puts too much power in the hands of one person. Zuckerberg owns 28.4 percent of Facebook, the largest single stake in the company, and he extended his voting power by implementing a dual-class stock structure in 2009. Some of his shares have 10 times more voting power than common stock, according to Facebook’s IPO filing. The CEO also gained voting power through agreements with individual stockholders. He owns an “irrevocable proxy” over those shares, Facebook said.
benton.org/node/112623 | Bloomberg
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FACEBOOK’S SOCIAL MISSION
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Esha Chhabra]
Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook is about more than making money – it has a 'social mission to make the world more open and connected.' Are the two goals compatible? “I would suspect that Mark Zuckerberg could say whatever he wants, but he’s probably still going to find that Wall Street is going to influence how he runs his company,” said Danny Sullivan, an expert on the industry and editor of the web site Search Engine Land. Tom Foremski, a former FT journalist and blogger, called it a “vague” social mission without an outline of how the company would use some of its profits for social impact, either through a foundation or some other charitable organization.
benton.org/node/112661 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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CONTENT
RESALE OF DIGITAL MUSIC
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Greg Sandoval]
ReDigi scans a user's computer hard drive to obtain the copy of the song the person wants to sell and then deletes it from the seller's hard drive. The startup, which launched a test version of the service last fall, asserts that the sale of digital music is protected under the same "First Sale" doctrine that protects the sale of CDs, vinyl records, DVDs, and other physical goods. But EMI, one of the top four record companies, alleged last month in a copyright complaint that ReDigi makes unauthorized copies of its songs to operate its music reselling business. EMI asked the court for a preliminary injunction, which would have forced ReDigi to shut down while the issue was decided in court, but the judge refused. US District Judge Richard Sullivan said he is inclined to let the case go to trial because of the many "fascinating" technological and legal questions it involves.
benton.org/node/112617 | C-Net|News.com
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LOBBYING
AT&T shareholders demand answers
What Wikipedia Won’t Tell You - op-ed
AT&T SHAREHOLDERS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: David Saleh Rauf]
Some AT&T shareholders want more than just dollars and cents from the board of directors in the aftermath of the company’s aborted takeover of T-Mobile: They want to know how company money is being spent to influence politics. A slew of corporate boards — including those of Apple, Ford and Pepsi — are being petitioned this proxy season by stockholders demanding an accounting of corporate funds being spent on campaigns, super PACs and political causes as corporate governance experts and members of Congress press for new federal rules. “Companies like AT&T are not tracing where shareholder money goes, and there needs to be due diligence on every political contribution, because it could have a wide-ranging effect that could impact the reputation of the company,” said Adam Kanzer, managing director and general counsel for Domini Social Investments, an AT&T shareholder group trying to get the company to disclose more of its political spending.
benton.org/node/112656 | Politico
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RIAA SPINS SOPA FIGHT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Cary Sherman]
[Commentary] The digital tsunami that swept over the Capitol last month, forcing Congress to set aside legislation to combat the online piracy of American music, movies, books and other creative works, raised questions about how the democratic process functions in the digital age. At the 11th hour, a flood of e-mails and phone calls to Congress stopped the Protect Intellectual Property Act (or PIPA) in its tracks. Was this the result of democracy, or demagoguery? Misinformation may be a dirty trick, but it works. Apparently, Wikipedia and Google don’t recognize the ethical boundary between the neutral reporting of information and the presentation of editorial opinion as fact. [Sherman is chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents music labels.]
benton.org/node/112664 | New York Times
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LABOR
SILICON VALLEY JOBS
[SOURCE: Oakland Tribune, AUTHOR: George Avalos]
Job growth in Silicon Valley accelerated sharply last year, but the growth has primarily benefitted people in highly skilled technology sectors rather than those in unskilled industries. Total jobs increased 3.8 percent in Silicon Valley in 2011, a much faster rate of growth than 2010, when the region's job base increased by 0.8 percent. The 2012 Silicon Valley Index report was issued by two nonprofit organizations, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and Silicon Valley Community Foundation. 43 percent of Silicon Valley households are in upper income brackets, earning $100,000 or more; 37 percent are at middle income levels, with household incomes of $35,000 to $100,000; and 20 percent are in the lower-income strata, with household incomes below $35,000. "The gap between those succeeding and those struggling grows wider and wider," said Russell Hancock, president of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley, a group with members from business, government, labor and academia. "It's as if we're becoming two valleys." It's not enough for a region to generate a relatively narrow array of jobs, even if those jobs are in the nation's hottest industries, said Emmett Carson, president of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a regional center for philanthropy. "A healthy economy requires jobs at all levels," Carson said. "You need people to work at the hospital, you need teachers and bus drivers, you need plumbers and electricians. A healthy economy requires an ecosystem of all kinds of jobs."
benton.org/node/112655 | Oakland Tribune | WSJ
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