BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2013
Accessibility, Emergency Communications, and Low Power FM Radio on today’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2013-07-16/
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
AT&T Bid for Leap Seen Winning Approval of US Agencies
A bird’s eye view of the AT&T-Leap Wireless merger - analysis
AT&T's $1.2B bid for Leap is mostly about spectrum - analysis
AT&T Gets Unusual Protections in Leap Wireless Deal - analysis
AT&T Leaps in T-Mobile's Way - analysis
Why Did AT&T Announce Plans to Acquire Leap on a Friday Afternoon? - analysis
2 New Plans to Upgrade Smartphones After a Year
FCC Seeks Comment on H Block Auction Procedures
App economy expected to double by 2017 to $151 billion [links to web]
Startup to Replace Traditional Satellite Dish [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
For NSA chief, terrorist threat drives passion to ‘collect it all,’ observers say
Microsoft’s Surveillance Collaboration: Voluntary Aid, or New Legal Tactic?
A Secret Surveillance Program Proves Challengeable in Theory Only
NSA surveillance is within democracy’s bounds - editorial
New Rules Protecting News Media - editorial
Google, Facebook warn of ‘abuse’ if feds can seize e-mails without a warrant [links to web]
Would Checking Cellphones After Collisions Truly Help Police? [links to web]
Antidrug Campaign, Lacking Federal Funds, Turns to Social Media
CYBERSECURITY
Intelligence Community Backs Off Information Sharing
One big threat to cybersecurity: IT geeks can’t talk to management [links to web]
Why the Smart Grid Might be a Dumb Idea [links to web]
Cyberattackers learn targeted advertising tricks [links to web]
PRIVACY
Wrangling Over ‘Do Not Track’
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Study: 1 in 3 West Virginia homes does not have a computer
Startup to Replace Traditional Satellite Dish [links to web]
TELECOM
Chairman Walden Proposes Cap on Universal Service Fund; Consultation with State USF Experts on Expansion Proposals - press release
FCC Seeks Comment on Lifeline Reform 2.0 Coalition’s Petition - public notice
Telemarketers call in reinforcements as they ignore do-not-call list [links to web]
CONTENT
White House, ad networks release anti-piracy best practices
ADVERTISING
Ongoing Health-Care Fight to Generate Another $500M in TV Advertising [links to web]
Cyberattackers learn targeted advertising tricks [links to web]
Antidrug Campaign, Lacking Federal Funds, Turns to Social Media
TELEVISION
A La Carte Pricing Would Hurt TV
CEA Publishes New DTV Interface Standard [links to web]
PUBLIC BROADCASTING
US Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
Emergency Access Advisory Committee Report on Gaps in NENA i3 NG 9-1-1 Specifications Related to EAAC Accessibility Reports - research [links to web]
LOBBYING
Internet lobby invites users to edit legislation line by line [links to web]
NEWS OF THE ORGS
Protect My Public Media Launches Press release [links to web]
Public Knowledge's New Patent Reform Project - press release [links to web]
NAMIC CEO Turner-Lee Resigns [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Yahoo Exec: Telecommuting Ban Is Absolutely Necessary [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Merkel Urges Europe to Tighten Internet Safeguards
Do not look to Europe to protect our data
Australia election threatens shape of $34 billion broadband plan
Russian Mobile Revolution Sparks Fight for Network Orders
Telecom Italia Goes Back to Square One With Spinoff Plan on Hold [links to web]
Baidu to Buy Mobile App Store for $1.9 Billion [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
REGULATORY OK FOR AT&T-LEAP?
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Todd Shields, Sara Forden]
AT&T’s $1.2 billion deal to buy Leap Wireless International would probably win approval from U.S. regulators, who may demand the company give up airwaves where its holdings surpass federal benchmarks. “This deal is probably achievable, but it will get looked at closely,” said Allen Grunes, an antitrust lawyer with GeyerGorey LLP in Washington. Antitrust officials at the Justice Department and airwaves regulators at the Federal Communications Commission aren’t expected to conclude consumers would be harmed by the loss of Leap as a competitor, said Paul Gallant, Washington-based managing director at Guggenheim Securities LLC. In some markets, the deal may bring the company above the FCC’s thresholds designed to ensure competition by preventing concentrated airwaves holdings. “This is where regulators are likely to focus,” Gallant wrote. The number of such markets may become clear in AT&T filings with the FCC, he wrote. AT&T could resolve any concerns by giving up airwaves, said Warren Rosborough, an antitrust lawyer with McDermott Will & Emery LLP. “There could be some local markets where the picture isn’t so good for AT&T, but I don’t think AT&T will have any problems spinning off towers to fix local concentration issues,” Rosborough said. Leap’s Cricket brand sells to low-income customers, who may be disproportionately affected by Leap’s removal from the market, Harold Feld, senior vice president of the Washington-based policy group Public Knowledge, said in a July 12 statement. He said regulators should reject the deal.
benton.org/node/155800 | Bloomberg
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BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF AT&T-LEAP
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
A look at AT&T’s proposed purchase of Leap. How much spectrum will AT&T get and is it worth the extremely high premium AT&T is offering? The good people at Moasik Solutions, a company that catalogs mobile coverage worldwide, have generated some detailed maps showing the spectrum positions of both operators as well as what the two operators would look like once combined. Leap, which is known to most of the country by its consumer-facing brand Cricket Communications, isn’t a nationwide carrier, but it does hold a few key licenses that would make any carrier’s mouth water. It owns valuable spectrum on the dense mid-Atlantic seaboard from Philadelphia down to Richmond (VA). But Leap’s big appeal is west of the Mississippi, where it has 26 MHz or more of PCS, Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) and 700 MHz airwaves — all bands where AT&T wants to build mobile broadband networks — in cities like San Antonio, Houston, Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, Phoenix and Portland (OR). Leap also owns smaller chunks of frequencies in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Nashville, Charlotte, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City. AT&T could put all of those airwaves to work in its 3G HSPA+ and 4G LTE networks. Harvesting that spectrum is almost certainly what AT&T plans given Leap’s primary technology CDMA is entirely incompatible with AT&T’s GSM and HSPA systems.
benton.org/node/155798 | GigaOm
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BID ABOUT SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Fierce, AUTHOR: Tammy Parker]
AT&T’s plan to take over prepaid wireless operator Leap Wireless is primarily about gaining much-needed spectrum for mobile broadband services. Leap operates a legacy CDMA network and has deployed LTE to a coverage area of 21 million POPs. But average speeds on its LTE network are only around 4 Mbps due to the operator's spectrum constraints. AT&T will likely shutter Leap's existing CDMA and LTE networks, refarming the spectrum for use with its own HSPA and LTE services much as T-Mobile is doing with the CDMA and LTE networks it gained when it acquired MetroPCS. Clearly the main attraction in this deal is Leap's spectrum holdings, which include 1.9 GHz PCS licenses and 1.7/2.1 GHz AWS licenses covering 137 million POPs. The spectrum is said to be largely complementary to AT&T's existing spectrum licenses. AT&T said it intends to put Leap's unutilized spectrum--which covers 41 million people--to use in furthering its own LTE deployment "and providing additional capacity and enhanced network performance for customers' growing mobile Internet usage."
benton.org/node/155775 | Fierce
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AT&T’S PROTECTION IN LEAP DEAL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ronald Barusch]
Buyers almost always protect themselves from material adverse changes in a target’s business by reserving the right to walk away if a “MAC” happens. But in AT&T’s acquisition of Leap Wireless International, the merger agreement also contains what might be referred to as a material favorable change clause. Although a similar provision has been included in a few previous merger agreements, it is unusual. To protect against a topping bid, buyers usually secure a breakup fee and certain procedural protections before the board can change its recommendation. AT&T negotiated a very favorable—but not particularly unusual– package of protections in this area. But what AT&T also has is a series of unusual protections if developments cause the board to change its mind in the absence of a competing bid. The biggest protection is that if that board announces that it has changed its mind when there is no higher bid and AT&T loses the deal, Leap will owe AT&T $71 million. That represents almost 6% of the reported valuation of the aggregate purchase price of the Leap stock in the AT&T deal. That is a big penalty for the board discovering better news for its shareholders. (It essentially says that the first 6% of any appreciation in the equity in this situation goes to AT&T for its efforts.) And there is more. The Leap board cannot even change its mind—and is contractually required to recommend in favor of the AT&T deal– if the event that causes the board to want to recommend against the deal was reasonably foreseeable when the agreement was signed, is a development in the cell-phone industry, is a change in market price of the Leap stock, or is the company exceeding its own projections. These sound like they have been taken from the clause that limits a buyer from claiming a MAC—which is why I would call this a material favorable change clause. In my view, there is some question whether this limitation on the board changing its recommendation is enforceable.
benton.org/node/155773 | Wall Street Journal
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AT&T LEAPS INTO T-MOBILE’S WAY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Miriam Gottfried]
Could a giant like AT&T be threatened by an upstart like T-Mobile? AT&T's purchase of Leap Wireless International suggests it is already playing defense. For AT&T, valued at $261 billion including net debt, Leap is a blip on the radar. It has about five million subscribers and wireless spectrum covering mostly second-tier markets, and AT&T says Leap will provide entry to prepaid wireless. But a closer look at Leap's spectrum suggests the deal may be more of a jab at T-Mobile than a boost to AT&T. More than 60% of Leap's spectrum resides in a band where T-Mobile has a major presence and AT&T, only a smattering of licenses, according to Moffett Research. Buying Leap thus keeps its highly complementary spectrum out of T-Mobile's hands. And AT&T may have a growing reason to do so. T-Mobile Chief Executive John Legere said that his company's "porting ratio" against AT&T—customers switching to T-Mobile from AT&T over those doing the reverse—had shot up to 1.75 from 0.59 in the first quarter as a result of new contract-free service plans announced in March. A desire to lock up Leap could explain why AT&T is paying more than eight times 2013 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.
benton.org/node/155826 | Wall Street Journal
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AT&T’S ODD ANNOUNCEMENT TIME
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
[Commentary] I’m always suspicious of announcements that come out late on a Friday afternoon – and in the case of AT&T’s announcement Friday that it would purchase Leap Wireless, it wasn’t difficult to find a reason why the potential merger partners might want to minimize the attention paid to the announcement. Not surprisingly for anyone who has been following the 700 MHz A-block debacle, AT&T aims to sell off the Leap Wireless A-block spectrum in the Chicago market as part of its plans to acquire that carrier. AT&T seems to have deliberately avoided acquiring any A-block spectrum even though that block is adjacent to AT&T’s spectrum holdings in the B-block and lower C-block and, theoretically, should be attractive to the carrier. AT&T has a long-standing dislike for the A-block, claiming that devices capable of operating in the A-block are subject to interference from Channel 51 TV broadcasters. Channel 51 is operational in about 30 of the nation’s 200+ TV markets, including Chicago.
benton.org/node/155771 | telecompetitor
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NEW PHONE PLANS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen]
For devotees of new technology, the people who help set trends and chase the latest gadgets, the joy of buying a new smartphone has been met with an equally strong annoyance: long-term commitment. Now they are getting some overtures to avoid breaking up. In recent days, several major phone carriers have announced plans to tweak the typical cellphone contract, usually two years long, giving the tech aficionados an incentive to stay and giving other customers also frustrated with their plans a possible cause for hope. AT&T, the second-largest American phone carrier, plans to announce a plan that gives customers a chance to upgrade phones after one year. T-Mobile USA announced a similar option earlier, underscoring one of the biggest problems in the phone industry: fewer people are upgrading year after year.
benton.org/node/155828 | New York Times
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H BLOCK AUCTION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission has provided insight into the window for auctioning the H block spectrum. The FCC is seeking comment on that auction, which will free up 10 MHz of spectrum for wireless broadband. The FCC wants input on, among other things, the auction design, structure and procedures, as well as eligibility. The notice follows the FCC's decision to approve the rules of the road for opening up more spectrum for mobile broadband in the H band, which came in acting FCC chairwoman Mignon Clyburn's first public meeting last month. By statute, the auction must occur by February 2015; in the public notice, the FCC suggests it is aiming for January 2014. The notice follows the commission's decision to approve the rules of the road for opening up more spectrum for mobile broadband in the H band, which came in acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn's first public meeting last month.
benton.org/node/155822 | Broadcasting&Cable | FCC | Attachment A | FCC Commissioner Pai
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
COLLECT IT ALL
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima, Joby Warrick]
In late 2005, as Iraqi roadside bombings were nearing an all-time peak, the National Security Agency’s newly appointed chief began pitching a radical plan for halting the attacks that were killing or wounding a dozen Americans a day. At the time, more than 100 teams of U.S. analysts were scouring Iraq for snippets of electronic data that might lead to the bomb-makers and their hidden factories. But the NSA director, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, wanted more than mere snippets. He wanted everything: Every Iraqi text message, phone call and e-mail that could be vacuumed up by the agency’s powerful computers. “Rather than look for a single needle in the haystack, his approach was, ‘Let’s collect the whole haystack,’ ” said one former senior U.S. intelligence official who tracked the plan’s implementation. “Collect it all, tag it, store it. . . . And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it.” The unprecedented data collection plan, dubbed Real Time Regional Gateway, would play a role in breaking up Iraqi insurgent networks and significantly reducing the monthly death toll from improvised explosive devices by late 2008. It also encapsulated Alexander’s controversial approach to safeguarding Americans from what he sees as a host of imminent threats, from terrorism to devastating cyberattacks.
benton.org/node/155767 | Washington Post
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MICROSOFT’S SURVEILLANCE COLLABORATION
[SOURCE: Technology Review, AUTHOR: Tom Simonite]
In July of last year, Microsoft began publicly testing an online e-mail and chat service called Outlook.com. Soon afterward, according to the British newspaper the Guardian, the company reengineered it in a way that allowed the National Security Agency’s PRISM surveillance program collect chat data before it was encrypted. Privacy campaigners and surveillance experts are now pondering whether Microsoft’s actions were forced by a previously unknown legal tactic, or whether the company voluntarily made the changes to aid surveillance. The Guardian report marks the first time that a major Internet company has been described to have modified its systems to enable government surveillance, as opposed to simply providing access to data it already held. “The $1 million question is whether Microsoft was forced to reengineer its systems to include new surveillance capabilities, or whether it did so voluntarily,” says Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist and senior policy analyst with the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.
benton.org/node/155757 | Technology Review
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SURVEILLANCE AND THE COURTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Adam Liptak]
On October 29, about seven months before the recent revelations about secret government surveillance programs, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. made a commitment to the Supreme Court. Verrilli, the Obama administration’s top appellate lawyer, argued that a challenge to a 2008 surveillance law should be dismissed. He said, a little comically in retrospect, that the human rights groups, lawyers and reporters who sought to challenge the law had no particular reason to think that their communications were being collected. The plaintiffs could not show they had been harmed by the surveillance program, he said, so they lacked standing to sue. Their fears, he said, were the product of “a cascade of speculation.” That was merely aggressive and effective advocacy. In February, in a 5-to-4 decision that split along ideological lines, the Supreme Court accepted Mr. Verrilli’s assurances and ruled in his favor. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the majority in the case, Clapper v. Amnesty International, all but recited Verrilli’s representation. “If the government intends to use or disclose information obtained or derived from” surveillance authorized by the 2008 law “in judicial or administrative proceedings, it must provide advance notice of its intent, and the affected person may challenge the lawfulness of the acquisition.” What has happened since then in actual criminal prosecutions? The opposite of what Verrilli told the Supreme Court. Federal prosecutors, apparently unaware of his representations, have refused to make the promised disclosures.
benton.org/node/155832 | New York Times
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WITHIN DEMOCRACY’S BOUNDS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Charles Lane]
[Commentary] Perhaps it was inevitable that Edward Snowden’s revelations about National Security Agency (NSA) monitoring of Europe would prompt some people to liken the U.S. government to the Stasi, Communist East Germany’s notorious secret police. Fortunately for two important causes — transatlantic relations and sensible political discourse — Chancellor Angela has challenged this spurious equivalency. As Germany’s first chancellor from the east, Merkel spoke with special authority. It’s important, though, to understand specifically why she is right. The methods of surveillance and intelligence-gathering — bribery, blackmail, wiretapping, infiltration and the rest — are not normal tools of democratic governance. To the contrary: There is a basic tension, or trade-off, between democracy and secrecy, and it’s absurd to deny it. Yet it is equally absurd to suggest, as Jakob Augstein did in Der Spiegel, that “no matter in what system or to what purpose: A monitored human being is not a free human being.” The political goals and institutional context of a given state’s intelligence-gathering make all the difference. Given the threats to democracy, and the technological milieu from which they may emerge, the United States needs to engage in data collection on a wide scale, both at home and abroad. The issue is whether it has checks and balances to ensure that these means remain politically and legally subordinate to legitimate ends. On that score, there’s good news and not-so-good news in Snowden’s revelations.
benton.org/node/155808 | Washington Post
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PROTECTING NEWS MEDIA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Faced with intense criticism for trampling basic press freedoms while chasing government leakers, the Obama administration has announced tougher rules to protect the news media from federal criminal investigators. The new guidelines, if followed, would make it more difficult to secretly review a media organization’s e-mails, phone or business records or other communications. And Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.’s office promised on Friday that “members of the news media will not be subject to prosecution based solely on news-gathering activities.” The new guidelines try to clarify some vague wording that allowed for the misreading. AG Holder and White House officials have said that in addition to guidelines, which can be easily changed, Congress should pass a law shielding journalists from government investigators. A shield law would be important if it protected journalists, sources and records. But it must be done right, and, so far, Congress is not there yet.
benton.org/node/155830 | New York Times
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SOCIAL MEDIA AND ANTIDRUG CAMPAIGN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
A multimedia campaign that was deemed effective in fighting drug and alcohol abuse among American teenagers is seeking a second act after the federal government ended its financing. The campaign, known as Above the Influence, was introduced in November 2005 by the Partnership at Drugfree.org, formerly the Partnership for a Drug-Free America; Foote, Cone & Belding, now the Draftfcb division of the Interpublic Group of Companies; and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Unlike many public service campaigns, which gain significant exposure only if media companies agree to donate substantial amounts of commercial time and advertising space, Above the Influence was guaranteed considerable placements because the drug control office spent $540 million of federal money, appropriated by Congress, to run the campaign; the money was amplified by matching donations from the private sector. Congress reduced the annual appropriated amounts several times; they fell from a high of $120 million in 2005 to a low of $45 million in 2010 and 2011 before hitting zero last year. Executives of the Partnership at Drugfree.org have decided to try keeping the campaign going, taking steps like soliciting corporate sponsorships and shifting to lower-cost platforms — among them digital and social media — from pricier previous efforts that included television commercials.
benton.org/node/155824 | New York Times
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CYBERSECURITY
INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY BACKS OFF INFORMATION SHARING
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Bob Brewin]
A recent solicitation issued by the Defense Intelligence Agency suggests the intelligence community has started to back away from developing a common technology architecture to foster information sharing -- a concept officials touted in February prior to revelations that National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden was leaking top secret information to the press. The Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a government and industry group, released a white paper on Feb. 11 based on input for development of a new intelligence community IT environment based on input from the chief information officers of the 16 intelligence agencies. It emphasized a common environment to enhance information sharing.
benton.org/node/155792 | nextgov
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PRIVACY
DO NOT TRACK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Natasha Singer]
After nearly two years of negotiations over how to put in effect a standardized “Do Not Track” mechanism for online users, Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla, along with some consumer and privacy groups, have lined up against the online advertising industry. The parties have been wrangling over how to provide a uniform option, called Do Not Track, that would allow individuals to opt out of having information about their online actions collected, retained and analyzed for purposes – like ads tailored to user behavior – not directly related to their activities. Browsers including Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox already include such Do Not Track options for users. Until the ad industry, technology firms and advocacy groups come to an agreement, however, the don’t-track-me browser settings represent little more than symbolic consumer flags that companies are free to ignore. An international Web standards body called the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, is overseeing the working group that has been trying to reach a consensus on the mechanism. But last week, a variety of participants rejected a last-minute proposal spearheaded by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), an industry self-regulatory body, that would have defined the Do Not Track option as prohibiting ad networks from retaining the URLs of the sites a user visited, but permitting the categorization or scoring of users based on their browsing activities.
benton.org/node/155777 | New York Times
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
WV HOME COMPUTER ADOPTION
[SOURCE: Gazette-Mail, AUTHOR: Eric Eyre]
West Virginia's push to expand high-speed Internet might be more complicated than making broadband service available by stringing copper wire or fiber on poles to people's homes. A new federal study shows slightly more than 35 percent of West Virginia households don't own a computer -- the second-lowest ranking of any state in the survey. The low computer ownership numbers help explain why many West Virginians don't sign up for high-speed Internet service, even where it's available. The study -- called "Exploring the Digital Nation" -- shows that 59 percent of West Virginia households subscribe to high-speed Internet. That's the eighth-lowest Internet adoption rate among the 50 states, although West Virginia's ranking has improved from past years. The Broadband Deployment Council distributed $2 million last year for projects designed to bring wireless Internet to homes in rural communities. The council turned down a handful of "demand promotion" projects intended to increase the number of people who subscribe to high-speed Internet. At the time, state law required the Broadband Deployment Council to award money for such projects in remote areas without Internet service. Council members said it didn't make sense to spur people to sign up for broadband if the service wasn't available. State lawmakers have since passed a bill that allows the broadband council to distribute money for projects that increase the demand for broadband anywhere in West Virginia.
benton.org/node/155755 | Gazette-Mail
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TELECOM
WALDEN USF LETTER
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn regarding the Universal Service Fund (USF) and proposals to expand the program. The USF, funded by a charge on consumers’ phone bills, is currently uncapped, leaving it vulnerable to endless expansion at the expense of ratepayers. In light of the current economic environment, Chairman Walden suggested that instead of expanding the program with a blank check, Acting Chairwoman Clyburn should cap the fund and if expansion is deemed necessary, work with the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service to find ways to do so under the funding cap.
benton.org/node/155781 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee
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FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON LIFELINE REFORM 2.0 COALITION’S PETITION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau seeks comment on a petition for rulemaking filed by the Lifeline Reform 2.0 Coalition. In its petition, the Coalition urges the FCC to commence a rulemaking proceeding for the purpose of amending its Lifeline rules to adopt several proposed reforms that, according to the Coalition, will further reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in the Lifeline program. Comments are due August 14, 2013; Reply comments August 29, 2013. [WC Docket No. 11-42]
benton.org/node/155761 | Federal Communications Commission
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CONTENT
ANTI-PIRACY BEST PRACTICES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jennifer Martinez]
The White House partnered with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and other online advertising companies to unveil a set of industry-developed best practices that are aimed at keeping online ads off websites that illegally offer pirated content and counterfeit products. The eight participating companies said they are committed to cutting off the flow of money to illicit websites that rely on online ads to generate revenue and fund their operations. The best practices were developed with support from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), a non-profit that represents media and technology companies that sell online ad. The White House hailed the release of the best practices in a blog post, calling it a "positive step" that "can have a significant impact on reducing online piracy and counterfeiting." The White House has encouraged industry groups—including ad networks and payment processors—to develop voluntary anti-piracy standards in light of the controversy surrounding online copyright legislation.
benton.org/node/155765 | Hill, The | White House
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TELEVISION
A LA CARTE TV PRICING
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: David Goetzl]
Cable operators moving to a la carte pricing would leave a massive financial hole in the TV business, according to a new report. Needham analyst Laura Martin estimates that so-called unbundling would remove 50% of total revenue for the industry at large, which comes out to about $70 billion. Also, fewer than 20 channels would make it if consumers paid network-by-network carriage fees as ad dollars would crater, Martin says. Advertising accounts for about 50% of total content costs. With ESPN costing operators so much, there have been suggestions about putting it on a sports tier, but Martin indicated that widespread sports tiering -- she did not cite ESPN by name -- would cost the TV ecosystem $13 billion.
benton.org/node/155816 | MediaPost
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PUBLIC BROADCASTING
BBG PROGRAMMING COMES TO THE US
[SOURCE: Foreign Policy, AUTHOR: John Hudson]
For decades, a so-called anti-propaganda law prevented the U.S. government's mammoth broadcasting arm from delivering programming to American audiences. But on July 2, that came silently to an end with the implementation of a new reform passed in January. The result: an unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption in a reform initially criticized as a green light for U.S. domestic propaganda efforts. So what just happened? Until this month, a vast ocean of U.S. programming produced by the Broadcasting Board of Governors such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks could only be viewed or listened to at broadcast quality in foreign countries. The programming varies in tone and quality, but its breadth is vast: It's viewed in more than 100 countries in 61 languages. The topics covered include human rights abuses in Iran; self-immolation in Tibet; human trafficking across Asia; and on-the-ground reporting in Egypt and Iraq.
benton.org/node/155753 | Foreign Policy
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
AUSTRALIA’S BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jane Wardell]
The future of an ambitious project to connect almost all Australia's far-flung inhabitants to high-speed internet, the largest infrastructure enterprise in the country's history, is hanging on the outcome of an upcoming federal election. The Labor government and conservative Liberal-led opposition have vastly differing plans for the A$37.4 billion ($34.2 billion) National Broadband Network (NBN), potentially hurting some business stakeholders and opening the door to others, including China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labor government has promised to deliver Internet speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to 93 percent of premises by 2021 using fiber-optic cables, with the remaining remote locations served by satellite and fixed wireless. A national high-speed network is central to Australia's plans to become one of the world's leading "digital economies" as it seeks alternative drivers of growth to replace a fading mining investment boom.
benton.org/node/155788 | Reuters
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RUSSIAN NETWORK ORDERS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Adam Ewing, Ilya Khrennikov, Marie Mawad]
Russian mobile carriers are gearing up for about $13 billion in spending to boost data speeds, creating the next major battleground for network suppliers. Russia is, by land mass, the largest country in the world, making it potentially tremendously lucrative for makers of equipment such as base stations and antennas. It has trailed the U.S. and Europe in wireless infrastructure, leaving consumers unable to enjoy video streaming and quick browsing. Sweden’s Ericsson AB, the No. 1 maker of wireless networks, and Finland’s Nokia Siemens Networks have won some of the early contracts. They will face challenges from competitors such as China’s Huawei Technologies Co. for the rest of the deals.
benton.org/node/155786 | Bloomberg
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MERKEL URGES EUROPE TO TIGHTEN SAFEGUARDS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Melissa Eddy, James Kanter]
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany is calling for the European Union to adopt legislation requiring Internet companies to disclose what information about users they store and to whom they provide it. Merkel’s remarks reflected the anger throughout much of Europe, including Germany, over recent accounts of government surveillance by the United States National Security Agency. Those accounts, in government documents leaked by Edward Snowden, included the agency’s compilation of logs of virtually all telephone calls in the United States and its collection of e-mails of foreigners from the major American Internet companies, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple and Skype. Those companies have already begun aggressive lobbying campaigns to stop or dilute tighter privacy rules, which they say would interfere with their business models and decrease profits and growth. The companies’ efforts are, in turn, supported by countries like England and Ireland that fear that such restrictions would hamper economic recovery. benton.org/node/155806 | New York Times
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EUROPE AND DATA PROTECTION
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Christopher Wolf]
[Commentary] Is personal data better shielded in Europe from the prying eyes of national security investigations than in the US? That is a general assumption of some following the revelations by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. But it may be incorrect. It is naive to think that European intelligence agencies do not use data collected from phone and internet companies in their investigations. Privacy hawks may also be surprised to learn that the US imposes at least as much due process and oversight on foreign intelligence surveillance as others. Currently, there is quarrelling over how well the judicial and legislative approval process is working in America. But the fact that it exists at all is the critical point because few countries provide the kind of framework of judicial authorization and legislative oversight of national security investigations found in the US. There are no guarantees, in the US or anywhere else, that authorities are abiding by the laws restricting access to personal data in the name of national security. But the degree of authorization required and the kind of review that occurs is relevant indeed to a determination of how well personal privacy and liberty are protected. Viewed that way, the US fares better than many others. European critics of US privacy protections would be well advised to take stock of their own countries’ national security access to personal data.
[Wolf is head of global privacy and information management at law firm Hogan Lovells]
benton.org/node/155804 | Financial Times
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