BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2012
Today: State of the Net 2012 continues http://benton.org/calendar/2012-01-18/
PIRACY
Anti-piracy bill markup to continue next month
Chairman Leahy: Anti-piracy bill critics 'flatly wrong'
Reeling MPAA declares DNS filtering "off the table"
Conservative group urges lawmakers to oppose anti-piracy bills [links to web]
In California, the divide is north vs. south
What Is SOPA Anyway? A Guide to Understanding the Online Piracy Bill - analysis [links to web]
Wikipedia blackout: Why even supporters question anti-SOPA move
President Obama proves he gets it on the online piracy issue - editorial [links to web]
Perils of an online piracy law - editorial [links to web]
Brake the Internet Pirates - editorial [links to web]
ONLINE RIGHTS
Official: Current Laws Protect Human Rights Online
Supreme Court rejects student social media cases
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
Analyst: It Makes Sense For Many Small TV Stations To Auction Their Airwave Spectrum
Sprint, HTC Hatch Plan To Remove Carrier IQ Software From Handsets
Full steam ahead for gigabit wireless, report says [links to web]
Visa Talks With Apple As Part Of Plan To Push Wireless Payments [links to web]
Secondary iPhone Market a Boon for AT&T, Verizon — and Apple, Too [links to web]
Cable is discovering the joys of Wi-Fi; why not mobile? [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The Top 10 Countries for Broadband Internet
Amazon Optimistic About Net Sales Tax Bill
As States Weigh Online Gambling, Profit May Be Small
LABOR
Internet regulation matters to U.S. economic recovery - op-ed
USDA Rural Development: Helping to Put Americans to Work - press release [links to web]
CONTENT
AT&T: Open and Free Auctions are the Way to Go - press release
ComScore Video Rankings: YouTube Usage Spiked 72 Percent Over 2010 [links to web]
Employees Three Times More Active on Social Networking Applications Than Previous Year - press release [links to web]
TELEVISION
Experts fear Toledo TV deal will cut competition [links to web]
ESPN: Big, Bigger, Biggest [links to web]
TELECOM
Rural Telco Groups Call on USDA’s Vilsack to Intervene in USF Reform
Verizon Wireless and Encore Offer Replacement to POTS Copper Lines [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Aide: Senate Nears Agreement On Cybersecurity Bill
Amazon Hit With Class Action Over Zappos Data Breach [links to web]
Will a $6.7 million cyber heist spur a move toward fixing the Internet? [links to web]
State's Streufert moving to DHS [links to web]
RESEARCH
Cracking Open the Scientific ProcessHouse Leaders pledge to open data to public
STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:
China’s upcoming connected TV revolution
Frankfurt Airport Tops League for Mobile Boarding Passes [links to web]
In Britain, Calls To Regulate A Freewheeling Press [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Young, in Love and Sharing Everything, Including a Password [links to web]
PIRACY
SOPA HEARINGS IN FEBRUARY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) vowed to bring the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) to a vote in his committee next month, even as thousands of websites prepared an unprecedented protest of the legislation. “I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to send a bipartisan bill to the White House that saves American jobs and protects intellectual property," he said. Chairman Smith scheduled a series of markup sessions late last year, but opponents offered a slew of amendments, forcing him to postpone a committee vote on the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to bring the Senate version, the Protect IP Act, to a vote in the full Senate next week. Major websites including Wikipedia and Reddit will temporarily shutdown on Jan 18 and display only a message criticizing the legislation. Google, the world's most visited webpage, will not shutdown but will display a banner opposing the bill.
benton.org/node/110641 | Hill, The | National Journal | Politico | USAToday | ars technica | paidContent.org
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LEAHY: CRITICS ‘FLATLY WRONG’
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), sponsor of controversial anti-online piracy legislation, pushed back against websites planning to shut down on Jan 18 in protest of his bill. "Much of what has been claimed about the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act is flatly wrong and seems intended more to stoke fear and concern than to shed light or foster workable solutions. The PROTECT IP Act will not affect Wikipedia, will not affect reddit, and will not affect any website that has any legitimate use," Chairman Leahy said. "Perhaps if these companies would participate constructively, they could point to what in the actual legislation they contend threatens their websites, and then we could dispel their misunderstandings. That is what debate on legislation is intended to do, to fine-tune the bill to confront the problem of stealing while protecting against unintended consequences."
benton.org/node/110638 | Hill, The | B&C
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DNS FILTERING “OFF THE TABLE”
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
Reeling from a broad Internet backlash, the Motion Picture Association of America has conceded that DNS filtering will not be included in the anti-piracy bills now making their way through Congress. "DNS filtering is really off the table," said Paul Brigner, the MPAA's tech policy chief, on Jan 17. His remarks came during a debate on SOPA at the State of the Net conference in Washington DC. The event was sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee. "The future of our industry relies on the Internet," Brigner said, noting that movie studios were increasingly selling their products to consumers via the Internet. Brigner's comments were echoed by Steve Tepp of the US Chamber of Congress, another major SOPA supporter. He said the DNS provisions of SOPA and PIPA have "essentially been taken off the table," as the sponsors of both bills -- Rep Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), respectively -- have pledged to remove those provisions from the bill. But Tepp and Brigner pledged to press on with the remaining provisions of the legislation. "We need to move forward as soon as possible," Tepp said. And while the MPAA appears to be abandoning the DNS-filtering provisions for this Congress, Brigner hinted that his organization may resurrect the proposal in the future.
benton.org/node/110572 | Ars Technica
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NOCAL VS SOCAL
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Michelle Quinn, Robin Bravender]
There’s a civil war brewing in California: Tech-aligned members of Congress from the North are staring down their Hollywood-loving counterparts in the South. At the heart of the schism are two bills that aim to crack down on online pirating of movies and music — the Stop Online Piracy Act pending in a House committee and the PROTECT IP Act up for a vote in the Senate next week. Hollywood-aligned lawmakers insist that the bills are needed to protect jobs and make sure artists and writers keep getting paid. But Silicon Valley and its backers in Congress counter that the effort would kill innovation and trample free speech. The dividing line is so clear that the fight might as well be between two states — with lawmakers from the South representing one California that is home to creative types who make content — such as movies, television shows and music — and lawmakers from the North fighting for another California that is home to Silicon Valley technologists who make it possible for the globe to consume that creative content online. The geographic fight is a good reminder that local politics can still trump party loyalties.
benton.org/node/110664 | Politico
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WIKIPEDIA BLACKOUT
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Gloria Goodale]
As the fracas over the proposed federal anti-privacy legislation known as SOPA heats up this week, the open-source encyclopedia website, Wikipedia, says it will shut down for 24 hours, beginning midnight Tuesday to protest what the website warns is a threat to free speech. Instead of its usual homepage, users who navigate to the English-language Wikipedia Wednesday will find directions for reaching local members of Congress to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said in a statement Monday, he hopes this "will melt phone systems in Washington." The Wikipedia blackout is intended to spotlight the value of free and open access to information on the Internet, but it also underlies how fractious the issue is as it draws fire from both critics and supporters.
“SOPA is an unconstitutional, dangerous waste of time – that is, a violation of the First Amendment that won't achieve its ends, and could cripple the Internet with its provision that sites could be liable for any pirated material posted on their online premises,” says Fordham University media professor Paul Levinson via e-mail. No site can possibly police every post – text or video – for adherence to copyright, he says. But Wikipedia should not shut down to point out the dangers of SOPA, he says. “Wikipedia is a source of information, a site which by its very existence stands up to ignorance in Congress. It won't be able to make this point on Wednesday when it's shut down." It will only inconvenience millions of people, who rely on its services, he says.
benton.org/node/110661 | Christian Science Monitor, The
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ONLINE RIGHTS
LAWS PROTECT ONLINE HUMAN RIGHTS
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
New international laws are not needed to protect human rights online, even as they are increasingly under attack, a top State Department official said. Kicking off the annual State of the Net Conference, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner said governments should not feel entitled to repress human rights. "Let me state for the record that international law applies to online behavior. Full stop," he said. "We do not need to reinvent international human rights law, or our enduring principles, to account for the Internet. No deed is more evil -- or more noble -- when it is committed online rather than offline." The revolutions of the Arab Spring highlighted the power of the Internet -- and government efforts to suppress it, Posner said. "Repressive regimes trembled at the power of people connected." While Posner argued that Internet access itself is not a human rights, governments and corporations have a responsibility to respect and protect rights online.
benton.org/node/110636 | National Journal
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SCOTUS REJECTS SOCIAL MEDIA CASES
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: David Kravets]
The Supreme Court declined to clarify on what grounds public schools may punish students for their off-campus online speech. The Justices have not squarely addressed the student-speech issue as it applies to the digital world—one filled with online social-networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others. The issue before the Justices tests whether public schools may discipline students who, while off campus, use social-networking sites to mock school officials. The lower courts have been all over the map on the First Amendment issue because they maintain they have been saddled with a Vietnam War-era High Court precedent that predates the Internet. In the leading case of the three petitions the justices declined to review, the lower court opinion urged the Supreme Court to end the confusion of whether that older case does indeed still hold in the internet age. The National School Boards Association also urged the High Court to review the issue. The association and others told the Justices that “The ubiquitous use of social networking and other forms of online communication has resulted in a stunning increase in harmful student expression that school administrators are forced to address with no clear guiding jurisprudence.”
benton.org/node/110637 | Ars Technica
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
INCENIVE AUCTIONS MAKE SENSE
[SOURCE: Deadline New York, AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank says it would be smart business for a lot of independently-owned television stations to go ahead and auction off their spectrum licenses. He found several cases where stations recently were sold for less than the owner could have received by accepting just 25% of what wireless providers are paying for spectrum. That means it’s possible “these stations could see their values rise, based solely on the value of their spectrum.” Major network owners including CBS, News Corp, and Disney also could benefit if they agree to auction off some of the airwaves they use — but the value might not be worth the risk just yet. Bank figures that CBS’ share price would rise 1.6% if it sold half of its spectrum and received half of what wireless providers likely would be willing to pay. The impact would be virtually negligible at the larger companies.
benton.org/node/110578 | Deadline New York
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SPRINT TO REMOVE CARRIER IQ
[SOURCE: paidContent.org, AUTHOR: Tom Krazit]
Sprint will no longer require the companies who make phones for its network to install Carrier IQ’s software, which prompted an uproar after the software was thought to be logging keystrokes. Although the software itself appears legit, Sprint’s desire for that much information about its users raised further questions. The Carrier IQ tempest rose quickly and died quickly after the software company responded to allegations from a security researcher that it was logging the keystrokes of certain handset users. Sprint was the most ubiquitous user of the diagnostic software among U.S. carriers, and HTC has confirmed to The Verge that the companies are actually working on a way to remove Carrier IQ from existing handsets with a software update.
benton.org/node/110570 | paidContent.org
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
TOP 10 INTERNET COUNTRIES
[SOURCE: Government Technology, AUTHOR: ]
Asia continues to be the globe's leading region when it comes to the number of broadband Internet users, according to a report last week from Broadband-Forum.org. And despite the ongoing global economic recession, the broadband market saw its highest growth in two years. Around the world approximately 581 million people subscribe to some sort of broadband Internet service. This number doesn’t include users who access the Internet via mobile phones. Most users (61.5 percent), according to the report, get broadband via a DSL subscription. Another 19.5 percent get service via cable and 16 percent of broadband Internet users have access to FTTx (fiber-to-the-home, building, curb, etc.) service. Fiber, the report notes, saw 8 percent growth in the third quarter of 2011 — twice the rate of growth compared to 2010. In the U.S., nearly 5 million more people have broadband Internet access compared to a year ago, with 90.5 million total users.
benton.org/node/110621 | Government Technology
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NET SALES TAX
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president for global public policy said that he sees a shift in momentum in favor of legislation his company supports that would authorize states to require online company's such as his own to collect sales taxes from out of-state customers. "I'm optimistic because the political dynamic has changed," Misener said during a discussion on the issue at the annual State of the Net conference. Misener noted a bipartisan Senate bill that Amazon backs would allow the federal government to help cash-strapped states bring in additional revenues without having to provide any federal funds. He added that he is "heartened" that the debate appears to have shifted away from whether to pass legislation to how it should be crafted and how big of an exemption should be included for small businesses.
benton.org/node/110654 | National Journal
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ONLINE GAMBLING AND STATE REVENUES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Cooper]
It has been more than four decades since states began putting numbers runners out of business by starting their own legal lotteries, which now yield them close to $18 billion a year. Now several states are thinking about trying to plug budget gaps by profiting again from their residents’ optimism — by legalizing, licensing and taxing Internet gambling. Nevada and the District of Columbia have already taken steps to authorize online poker, and state officials in Iowa have been studying the issue closely. Lawmakers in New Jersey and California are redoubling their efforts to legalize it, bolstered by a recent Department of Justice decision that reversed the federal government’s long-held opposition to many forms of Internet gambling. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey spoke this month of making his state an “epicenter” of the online gambling industry. But as desperate as states are for new revenue, after four years of often painful austerity, there are questions about just how much income they can expect to receive from online gambling. The state of Iowa released a study last month that found that legalizing online poker might net it $3 million to $13 million a year, far less than private companies had estimated. The American Gaming Association, a casino industry trade group, has estimated that legalizing online poker would generate roughly $2 billion a year in new tax revenues, a fraction of what states get from their lotteries.
benton.org/node/110652 | New York Times
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LABOR
INTERNET REGULATION MATTERS
[SOURCE: Seattle Times, AUTHOR: Timothy Karr]
[Commentary] As policymakers puzzle over ways to put the U.S. economy on a more stable footing, many have overlooked two reports from 2011 that point to a root of our lingering economic problems, and to a possible solution. The first report, an annual survey by the Federal Communications Commission, found that the rate of U.S. consumers adopting high-speed Internet is falling behind that of broadband superpowers like South Korea and Denmark, where people pay less to cruise along a faster Web. The second report, from the McKinsey Global Institute, finds that Internet access has a significant impact on growth, jobs and wealth creation across all sectors of the economy, contributing more to the national GDPs of developed countries than energy, agriculture and several other critical industries. For the Internet to continue as a driver of economic growth both in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, governments need to "leverage" public spending on deployment to kick-start innovation. America's declining Internet standing is reason for concern. But are our politicians even paying attention?
benton.org/node/110623 | Seattle Times
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CONTENT
AT&T STATEMENT ON SPECTRUM AUCTIONS
[SOURCE: AT&T, AUTHOR: Bob Quinn]
The Federal Communications Commission has done some creative tinkering with auctions in the past, with dubious results. For example, the FCC created set asides for Designated Entities, which led to valuable spectrum laying fallow for years when a major DE landed in bankruptcy. They also imposed conditions on both the C Block and D Block spectrum in the recent 700 MHz auction. From AT&T’s perspective, however, we fear that this time around, some of its tinkering may be aimed at specific auction participants, like us. Why are we fearful?
Two years ago, in the license transfer deal between SkyTerra and Harbinger (now known as LightSquared), a mysterious condition appeared at the last minute that imposed conditions if LightSquared were to engage in a commercial relationship with AT&T or Verizon. Not a single commenter in that proceeding asked for any conditions, yet that one miraculously appeared at the 13th hour (the actual first mention of the infamous Verizon/AT&T condition was not posted on the FCC website (March 31, 2010) until 5 days after the FCC had approved the Order (March 26, 2010) – and over a month after that particular ex parte had been filed (February 26, 2010) at the agency, see screen shot below. And let’s not forget that the FCC’s annual Wireless Competition Reports no longer address the competitiveness of the wireless industry (which is frankly remarkable to anyone who just came back from CES). Instead, the report discusses the different “values” of different swaths of spectrum, like the below 1 Gigahertz spectrum that would be auctioned off under this legislation, which could make it harder for certain carriers to obtain that spectrum.
benton.org/node/110626 | AT&T
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TELECOM
RURAL TELCOS SEEK USDA INTERVENTION
[SOURCE: Telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies and the Western Telecommunications Alliance have joined forces once again, jointly sending a letter last week to Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack asking him to escalate rural telco concerns about certain elements of the Connect America Fund order adopted by the Federal Communications Commission late last year. In addition the groups asked Vilsack to help prevent the FCC from undertaking several additional reform measures. “Through a combination of changes to existing USF and ICC programs, the FCC effectively reduced funding available to RLECs, implementing retroactively applicable limitations that ‘pull the rug’ from beneath RLECs that invested on the basis of then-existing federally administered programs, and imposed new requirements on rural carriers,” the letter says. The letter also notes that “we are already hearing from members whose business plans for 2012 consist primarily of cutting back on operations and/or reducing staff to accommodate the constraints already ordered by the FCC.” It also notes that “few, if any, RLECs plan significant investment in 2012 as uncertainty gathers and lingers.” This “regulatory overhang” is undermining job creation and “the sustainable quality of broadband services in wide swaths of rural America,” the letter argues.
benton.org/node/110562 | telecompetitor
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CYBERSECURITY
SENATE CYBERSECURITY BILL
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Josh Smith]
The Senate could move ahead with a broad-ranging cybersecurity bill in as little as a week, an aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said. Speaking at the annual State of the Net Conference, Tommy Ross, Reid's senior intelligence and defense adviser, said the Senate is on track to meet Reid's goal of eventually bringing the legislation to the floor in the next three to four weeks. While the bill, currently being developed by working groups, will not be truly comprehensive, Ross said it will cover a "pretty broad waterfront." He said there are no insurmountable disagreements, despite years of wrangling over the specifics of cybersecurity legislation. "What comes to the floor will reflect wide agreement," Ross said. If the bill does eventually clear the Senate, its future in the House remains murky.
benton.org/node/110634 | National Journal
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RESEARCH
CRACKING OPEN THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Thomas Lin]
The New England Journal of Medicine marks its 200th anniversary this year with a timeline celebrating the scientific advances first described in its pages: the stethoscope (1816), the use of ether for anesthesia (1846), and disinfecting hands and instruments before surgery (1867), among others. For centuries, this is how science has operated — through research done in private, then submitted to science and medical journals to be reviewed by peers and published for the benefit of other researchers and the public at large. But to many scientists, the longevity of that process is nothing to celebrate. The system is hidebound, expensive and elitist, they say. Peer review can take months, journal subscriptions can be prohibitively costly, and a handful of gatekeepers limit the flow of information. It is an ideal system for sharing knowledge, said the quantum physicist Michael Nielsen, only “if you’re stuck with 17th-century technology.” Dr. Nielsen and other advocates for “open science” say science can accomplish much more, much faster, in an environment of friction-free collaboration over the Internet. And despite a host of obstacles, including the skepticism of many established scientists, their ideas are gaining traction. Open-access archives and journals like arXiv and the Public Library of Science (PLoS) have sprung up in recent years.
benton.org/node/110576 | New York Times
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
HOUSE LEADER PLEDGE
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Gautham Nagesh]
House Leaders from both parties agreed on the need for the lower chamber to release more data for public use by third-party developers in the wake of the first-ever Congressional Facebook Hackathon. "We are dedicated to making the activities of this Congress transparent, accessible and useful for people around the country," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) "In order to accomplish that, it is clear that we must use technology to build stronger connections between constituents and their elected officials by incorporating social media into daily Congressional operations. The December event featured leaders from both parties, Congressional staffers, developers and open government advocates discussing how to best leverage the innovation of the technology sector to help improve public engagement with the government.
benton.org/node/110585 | Hill, The
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
These headlines presented in partnership with:
CHINA’S UPCOMING CONNECTED TV REVOLUTION
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Janko Roettgers]
Millions and millions of viewers, high-profile international partnerships, live audiences that dwarf Western competition: For years, it looked like there was little that China’s online video industry couldn’t achieve — except for reaching the living room. Strict regulation of TV services made connected devices off-limits, and companies who snuck their apps on set-top boxes had to deal with repercussions. Now it looks like this may be changing.
Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, China’s online video provider PPTV announced a strategic partnership with WASU Media Group. WASU is a local cable TV operator in one of China’s many provinces, but it has something really valuable for PPTV: A license to bring online video to the living room, which it has been using to bring triple play offerings to their customers. However, WASU’s license isn’t just restricted to the territory it works in. Instead, it’s able to launch online services on connected devices everywhere. PPTV, which is also known as PPLive, has been trying to get into the living room for years. The company’s P2P video client is installed on 240 million PCs across China, and it has been adding some 30 million users with its iPad and other mobile clients in recent years. The company worked on its own set-top box project some three years ago, but never shipped the device because China’s regulators were starting to crack down on similar offerings from competitors.
benton.org/node/110618 | GigaOm
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