BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012
At the FCC today: TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund Workshop http://benton.org/calendar/2012-06-25/
STORIES FROM ABROAD
A battle for Internet freedom as UN meeting nears
The ITU and Your Internet - analysis
Domain Wheeling and Dealing
Facebook's $1 billion bid for Instagram to be investigated by the UK Office of Fair Trading
The Right to Be Forgotten
News Group faces 50 more hacking lawsuits [links to web]
Dems: Secrecy doomed anti-counterfeiting treaty
MORE ON BROADBAND/INTERNET
Why you will need a 300 Mbps broadband connection - analysis
ICANN picks little-known exec as CEO
The State of Broadband Internet Access in Kansas City - press release
New York City Pushes for Maximum Connectivity [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Apple vs. Motorola Dismissed With Prejudice
Apple Patent Ruling May Alter Tech Tactics
Apps are helping smartphones become digital wallets [links to web]
US Military Hunts for Safe Smartphones for Soldiers [links to web]
Shields for Privacy in a Smartphone World [links to web]
CONTENT
US judge sets 2013 trial date for Apple e-book lawsuit
With Google backing out, ABA promises indie bookstores new e-book solution by fall [links to web]
Do you lose free speech rights if you speak using a computer? - analysis
The FTC should take a broader look at transparency - op-ed
Dems: Secrecy doomed anti-counterfeiting treaty
Where did you spend your time online in May? Nielsen knows [links to web]
LABOR
Apple’s Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay
Did NY Times report drive Apple to be extra generous to workers?
JOURNALISM
Warren Buffett's Cut-Price Community Spirit for Newspapers
PRIVACY
Senators introduce guidelines bill for data security breaches
The Right to Be Forgotten
News Group faces 50 more hacking lawsuits [links to web]
Shields for Privacy in a Smartphone World [links to web]
Lawyers Get Vigilant on Cybersecurity [links to web]
TELEVISION
High Court gives FCC ‘green light’ to sanction television indecency
Supreme Court Kicks the Indecency Can Down the Road - analysis
On indecency, SCOTUS puts onus back on FCC
Sidley Austin's Carter Phillips, the attorney who won FCC v. Fox [links to web]
Reconsidering the FCC’s Political File Rule - op-ed
NBC Series Saved by Delayed Viewership [links to web]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
FCC Approves For Transmittal the Recommended Minimum Technical Requirements Submitted by the Technical Advisory Board For First Responder Interoperability - press release
FCC Dismisses ACA Petition to Reconsider Emergency Alert Order [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
ICANN picks little-known exec as CEO
Branscome to Replace Rosenworcel as Senior Communications Adviser to Senate Commerce [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Where to Place Your Call for Dividends With Telecom Stocks [links to web]
Advertisers Urged to Use More Black Media [links to web]
Study: Slow Progress In Kids' Cereal Marketing [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
BATTLE FOR INTERNET FREEDOM
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Richard Lardner]
A year after the Internet helped fuel the Arab Spring uprisings, the role cyberspace plays in launching revolutions is being threatened by proposed changes to a United Nations telecommunications treaty that could allow countries to clamp down on the free flow of information. For months, dozens of countries have been meeting behind closed doors to debate changes to the 24-year-old treaty. The US delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications to be held in Dubai this December has vowed to block any proposals that could permit online censorship or undercut the Internet's current governing structure. Yet those assurances have failed to ease fears that bureaucratic tinkering with the treaty could imperil Internet freedom and diminish its role in economic growth, according to legal experts and civil liberties advocates who have been tracking the discussions. The drafting and debating of proposals in preparation for the Dubai conference have taken place largely in secret. Public interest groups have criticized the process and said it runs counter to development of sound public policy. In response to calls for transparency, two research fellows at George Mason University's Mercatus Center launched the website WCITLeaks.org earlier this month as a way to make leaked documents available publicly. The secretive nature of the talks has sparked rumors the U.N. is plotting to take control of the Internet. Toure has called the takeover rumors "ridiculous."
benton.org/node/126699 | Associated Press
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THE ITU AND YOUR INTERNET
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] On June 20, the House Commerce Committee approved, on a voice vote, House Congressional Resolution 127 regarding actions to preserve and advance the multistakeholder governance model under which the Internet has thrived. If we may start at the end, the resolution, if approved by the full House and the Senate, says it is the sense of Congress that the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, in consultation with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and United States Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, should continue working to implement the position of the United States on Internet governance that clearly articulates the consistent and unequivocal policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control and preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model that governs the Internet today.
Wow, who could be against that? But wait… what evil in the world could merit an important resolution like this? Well, we’ll need the rest of the story then.
http://benton.org/node/126548
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DOMAIN WHEELING AND DEALING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah Needleman]
Entrepreneurs and big companies are battling one another for the rights to manage hot new Web address endings, including .app, .home and .book. Some gathered in Prague, where they may decide to team up and pursue a contested domain together or duke it out. The meeting is the second of three that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) holds annually in different regions of the globe. The meetings, which are free and open to the public, offer participants a chance to air their opinions about the Internet, ask questions and receive updates from ICANN about the organization itself. But at this weekend's meeting, many of those seeking the rights to contested domains say they intend to meet with their competitors. Some hope to discuss teaming up to reach arrangements where one party might agree to withdraw an application so that another technically would have the rights to manage the name in question. But they would work together to manage the name and share profits if ICANN were to later approve the remaining application. It is also possible that some domain seekers will offer to pay their rivals to back out entirely. ICANN, which awards domains based on applicants' qualifications and plans for using the domains, is expected to begin evaluating the applications next month. It is unclear when selections will be announced, according to Michele Jourdan, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit.
benton.org/node/126690 | Wall Street Journal
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FACEBOOK-INSTAGRAM INVESTIGATION IN ENGLAND
[SOURCE: The Guardian, AUTHOR: Charles Arthur]
The UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to investigate Facebook's $1 billion bid for Instagram, because it is concerned the giant social network might choke off picture uploads to other sites from the app, or else restrict other apps' ability to upload to it. The UK competition regulator has asked for comments from interested parties, and given them until 5 July – just two weeks away – to respond. The OFT aims first to decide whether it has jurisdiction over the takeover, and will then determine whether to drop its investigation if it does not or cannot see any harmful effects, or to either seek undertakings from the two companies or refer the entire bid to the UK Competition Commission, by 23 August. The OFT has jurisdiction under the 2002 Enterprise Act if two or more enterprises merge to create one with an annual turnover in the UK of more than £70m, or a 25% share of a market is created or enhanced. Facebook has not yet released data about its revenues in the UK, and it is also unclear what share of the UK photo upload market it might have.
While the OFT investigation might derail the takeover, Facebook may initially be more concerned about the ongoing investigation in the US of the same deal by the Federal Trade Commission, which is looking at the same questions as the OFT – namely, whether the takeover might cut off future competition that had been planned by Instagram.
benton.org/node/126688 | Guardian, The
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THE RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Rosen]
Soon, citizens around the world may have the ability to selectively delete themselves from the Internet. At the beginning of this year, Viviane Reding, the European commissioner for justice, fundamental rights, and citizenship, proposed codifying a sweeping version of the right to be forgotten in European data-protection law. The proposal is being strenuously resisted by Facebook and by Google, which could be liable for up to 1 percent of its $37.9 billion annual income if it fails to remove photos or other data that people post about themselves and later think better of, even if the data have been broadly shared. But the right to be forgotten also gives people the right to demand the removal of embarrassing information that others post about them, regardless of its source, unless Google or Facebook can prove to a European regulator that the information is part of a legitimate journalistic, literary, or artistic exercise. This would transform Facebook and Google from neutral platforms into global censors and would clash directly with the principle, embedded in U.S. free-speech law, that people can’t be restricted from publishing embarrassing but truthful information. As a result, the right to be forgotten may precipitate the Internet Age’s most dramatic conflict between European conceptions of privacy and American conceptions of free speech.
benton.org/node/126686 | Atlantic, The
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MORE ON BROADBAND/INTERNET
WHY YOU WILL NEED 300 MBPS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
The growing popularity of connected TVs and efforts to build interactive programs will drive the next wave of broadband demand. That future and the continued growth of devices in the home are all reasons that Verizon has launched a 300 Mbps broadband tier and will continue pushing the speeds on its fiber-to-the-home network. There are several reasons for this, but it boils down to the presence of more devices in the home and streaming video. Other dynamics such as whether or not folks are gamers or work from home also comes into play, but across the board it’s the rise in Netflix subscriptions, YouTube videos and family members toting smart phones, tablets, perhaps while watching content on a connected TV. If there are four people consuming media with a tablet in one hand and their eye on the TV, your home requires a fat connection.
benton.org/node/126708 | GigaOm
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STATE OF BROADBAND ACCESS IN KANSAS CITY
[SOURCE: Google, AUTHOR: Kenneth Carter]
Using the Internet isn’t just about checking email and social networking. Access to broadband—and knowing how to use it—has become essential when it comes to jobs, education, business and much more. The web provides a wealth of information and services for Internet users, and people who aren’t online are, simply put, at a huge disadvantage. From a policy standpoint, we can try and address these issues by encouraging policies that will make computers and Internet access more affordable, and promote digital literacy initiatives. But a lot of outreach and education needs to take place on a community level. And that’s why this morning we’ve joined representatives from amazing local nonprofits, schools, libraries, city governments and other community experts in a discussion about how to take action and get Kansas Citians online using broadband Internet access. We’ll post the video of our discussion here as soon as it’s ready. The Google Fiber project is about making the web better and faster—but it’s also about making the Internet more accessible for people throughout Kansas City. Digital inclusion here is a priority for Google, and it’s clear that it’s also a priority for community nonprofits and the local governments.
benton.org/node/126693 | Google | read Google study
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
APPLE VS MOTOROLA DISMISSED
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: John Paczkowski]
Richard Posner, the outspoken Chicago judge who has at times described the Apple-versus-Motorola lawsuit over which he presides as “silly” and “ridiculous,” had the final word on the case: Dismissed. In a ruling issued late June 22, Posner dismissed the case, saying neither Apple nor Motorola was able to present compelling proof of damages. And he did so with prejudice, preventing both companies from refiling claims. “It would be ridiculous to dismiss a suit for failure to prove damages and allow the plaintiff to refile the suit so that he could have a second chance to prove damages,” Posner wrote in his ruling. “This case is therefore dismissed with prejudice; a separate order to that effect is being entered today.” The ruling is a clear victory for Motorola and its new owner Google, but it’s also a blow to all companies involved. Throughout his order Posner repeatedly skewers Apple and Motorola and their legal teams for the weakness of their arguments, mistakes in trial preparation, flights of “wild conjecture,” and their utter failure to present enough evidence to create a triable issue. He also takes a well-aimed shot at Motorola for seeking an injunction against Apple using standards-essential patents that are supposed to be licenses on FRAND (fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory) terms.
benton.org/node/126725 | Wall Street Journal | Fortune | IDG News Service | GigaOm | ars technica
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PATENT RULING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ian Sherr, Don Clark]
Judge Richard Posner’s ruling is a blow to the campaign by Apple and its rivals to use patent suits to block competitors' progress. Judge Posner ruled that companies in such cases shouldn't be able to win court injunctions blocking sales of infringing products, a key tactic for plaintiffs trying to pressure defendants. But legal experts remain divided on whether the judge's 38-page ruling will have much impact on other disputes involving smartphone combatants. Judge Posner's ruling questioned whether the harm by patent infringement caused to a plaintiff in such a case justified the harm caused to the defendant—and the general public—from issuing an injunction that would prevent consumers from buying infringing products. "An injunction that imposes greater costs on the defendant than it confers benefits on the plaintiff reduces net social welfare," he wrote. The judge dismissed as "wild conjecture" the idea that a smaller player like Motorola could cause enough harm to Apple to justify an injunction, saying that Apple's lawyers had tried to turn the case into a "popularity contest" by comparing its products with Motorola's. Judge Posner stressed that monetary damages are a more appropriate remedy in such patent cases. But he criticized both companies' efforts to seek them, concluding they "had failed to make a responsible calculation" of damages.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230445860457748689173262549...
benton.org/node/126755 | Wall Street Journal
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CONTENT
JUNE 2013 E-BOOK TRIAL DATE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Basil Katz]
US District Judge Denise Cote set a 2013 trial date for a lawsuit from the US government accusing Apple and book publishers of conspiring to fix the prices of electronic books. Following a hearing in Manhattan federal court, Judge Cote said a bench trial in the case will begin June 3, 2013, for Apple and two publishers who are fighting the antitrust charges. The case is In Re: Electronic Books Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-2293.
benton.org/node/126717 | Reuters
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FREE SPEECH AND YOUR COMPUTER
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Timothy Lee]
[Commentary] It took guts for the New York Times to publish an op-ed by Tim Wu, the Columbia law professor who coined the phrase "network neutrality," arguing that the First Amendment doesn't protect the contents of the New York Times website. A significant amount of the content on the Times website—stock tickers, the "most e-mailed" list, various interactive features—were generated not by human beings, but by computer programs. And, Wu argues, that has constitutional implications:
“Protecting a computer’s "speech" is only indirectly related to the purposes of the First Amendment, which is intended to protect actual humans against the evil of state censorship. The First Amendment has wandered far from its purposes when it is recruited to protect commercial automatons from regulatory scrutiny.”
OK, I fibbed. The target of Wu's op-ed was Google and Facebook, not the New York Times. But accepting Wu's audacious claim that computer-generated content doesn't deserve First Amendment protection endangers the free speech rights not only of the tech titans, but of every modern media outlet.
benton.org/node/126711 | Ars Technica
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FTC AND TRANSPARENCY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Marvin Ammori]
[Commentary] The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating Google for a year now, looking in part at whether Google is operating “fairly” in its search results. But if the FTC is really serious about protecting consumers, the agency may be better off taking a broader industry-wide look at search engine transparency and labeling practices. I head a small law firm in Washington (DC), where I advise technology companies, including Google, on public policy issues. As an advocate for open Internet rules, I’ve spent many years working on network neutrality issues, and I also took part in the SOPA and PIPA debates, as one of the opponents of unfocused copyright laws. While advising Google on the FTC’s antitrust investigation, I have noticed an odd pattern: the companies complaining about Google’s actions all commit the same exact actions they complain about. If Google’s actions harm consumers, then so do its competitors. The competitors complain about some things that are not even a problem (such as using snippets of text in a search result) and other things that would be a problem if Google or any other company engaged in them (including deceiving users by mislabeling ads and search results). The FTC owes it to Web users and search engines to provide updated guidance on what form and amount of transparency is adequate for search engines.
benton.org/node/126707 | GigaOm
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DEMS: SECRECY DOOMED ACTA
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Eliza Krigman]
Democratic lawmakers say they know why the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement faces tough odds in Europe: too much secrecy. “If I had to predict right now, ACTA is not going to be ratified in Europe because of the public outcry,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said. “I was critical, and I am still critical of the secrecy with which these agreements are being put together.” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) echoed that sentiment. “The latest rejection of ACTA sends a strong signal that treaties impacting a free and open Internet can no longer be negotiated in secret,” Sen Wyden said. “I hope that lawmakers will not again attribute this defeat to ‘online misinformation’ and will instead understand that drafting policies impacting the Internet requires engagement with the millions worldwide for whom the Internet is a part of their daily life.” Although ACTA seems doomed in Europe, the Office of the United States Trade Representative is still talking it up. “We believe that the ACTA will play a key role in helping to protect the intellectual property that is essential to American jobs in innovative and creative industries,” a USTR representative said about the treaty. But Rashmi Rangnath, a staff attorney with Public Knowledge, agreed with Rep Lofgren and Sen Wyden.
benton.org/node/126752 | Politico
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LABOR
APPLE’S RETAIL ARMY
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Segal]
America’s love affair with the smartphone has helped create tens of thousands of jobs at places like Best Buy and Verizon Wireless and will this year pump billions into the economy. Within this world, the Apple Store is the undisputed king, a retail phenomenon renowned for impeccable design, deft service and spectacular revenues. Last year, the company’s 327 global stores took in more money per square foot than any other United States retailer — wireless or otherwise — and almost double that of Tiffany, which was No. 2 on the list, according to the research firm RetailSails. Worldwide, its stores sold $16 billion in merchandise. But most of Apple’s employees enjoyed little of that wealth. While consumers tend to think of Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., as the company’s heart and soul, a majority of its workers in the United States are not engineers or executives with hefty salaries and bonuses but rather hourly wage earners selling iPhones and MacBooks. About 30,000 of the 43,000 Apple employees in this country work in Apple Stores, as members of the service economy, and many of them earn about $25,000 a year. They work inside the world’s fastest growing industry, for the most valuable company, run by one of the country’s most richly compensated chief executives, Tim Cook. Last year, he received stock grants, which vest over a 10-year period, that at today’s share price would be worth more than $570 million. And though Apple is unparalleled as a retailer, when it comes to its lowliest workers, the company is a reflection of the technology industry as a whole.
benton.org/node/126720 | New York Times
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DID APPLE REACT TO NY TIMES ARTICLE?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Salvador Rodriguez]
Apple just gave its retail employees more reasons to like working for the company, but after a New York Times article June 23 focusing on Apple employees, it begs to be asked whether Apple was just trying to pad itself before the story dropped. That's because the article, part of the paper's "iEconomy" series, highlights the fact that Apple is able to pay its employees a modest wage without commission or promise of a career. The New York Times says the just-announced wage increases, which are much higher than Apple's last round of raises, came after it first began inquiring for the story four months ago. When it asked Apple about the timing of the raises, it said, the tech giant wouldn't comment.
benton.org/node/126721 | Los Angeles Times | NYTimes
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JOURNALISM
BUFFETT AND COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Miriam Gottfried]
Wealthy investors including Sam Zell and Philip Falcone have swooped into the troubled newspaper industry in recent years, trying to call the bottom. Few have seen success. Now Warren Buffett is diving into print. Has he waited long enough to get real value? On June 22, the Omaha World-Herald, a division of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, agreed to buy the Waco Tribune-Herald, which sells 34,000 copies daily. Earlier this month, it snapped up another Texan newspaper. This comes after Berkshire's purchase of 63 small-market papers from Media General in May and December's acquisition of the World-Herald, adding to longtime holding the Buffalo News. While Buffett has been vocal about the secular deterioration of the newspaper business, he has expressed a belief that small, local papers have a strong future. And as an ultra-long-term investor, he likely has the stomach to navigate all of the digital turmoil before they get there. While metropolitan dailies have been crushed by declining advertising and falling circulation, small-market papers have found some protection. Coverage of community events, local sports and local politics remains tough and expensive to replicate. And Buffett appears to have chosen papers with monopoly local positions.
benton.org/node/126748 | Wall Street Journal
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PRIVACY
DATA SECURITY AND BREACH NOTIFICATION ACT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Daniel Strauss]
Sens Pat Toomey (R-PA), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Dean Heller (R-NV) introduced the Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2012 (S.3333), a bill aimed at setting national standards for how companies inform individuals of a breach of security related to personal information. The bill directs corporations, trusts, cooperatives and similar entities that retain personal information to inform the owners of that information of a breach as quickly as possible. The breached entities have to inform the owners of the breached information on the date it was accessed, the information that was stolen and how to contact the breached entity for more information. The notification can be by telephone, email or on paper.
benton.org/node/126719 | Hill, The | ars technica
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TELEVISION
DID COURT GIVE FCC GREELIGHT?
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The Supreme Court’s decision to duck a call on the federal government’s power to police the airwaves for “indecent” content effectively hands that power to the Federal Communications Commission, according to lawmakers and conservatives reacting to the ruling. They said the FCC will now face pressure from Congress and advocacy groups to go through that backlog of complaints and start cracking down on stations. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said the court gave the FCC a “green light" to resume sanctioning stations. “The public airways are just that—public,” he said. “The networks using them have a moral duty to the American public to responsibly provide content that is acceptable for all viewers.” Dan Isett, director of public policy for the Parents Television Council, said in an interview that the FCC should start fining stations for indecent content as soon as possible. “The court did not strip the FCC of the authority to do anything,” Isett said, adding that the next step is for the commission to review the backlog of complaints. “There's bipartisan agreement on this,” said Andrew Schwartzman, a telecommunications lawyer who represented artists opposed to the indecency fines. “Everyone on the Hill wants the FCC to take a hard line.” But it is unclear how eager FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will be to crusade for tough decency standards.
benton.org/node/126698 | Hill, The
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KICKING THE INDECENCY CAN
[SOURCE: CommLaw Center, AUTHOR: Scott Flick]
[Commentary] On a pragmatic level, the Supreme Court's ruling seems to indicate that the appropriate "notice" on fleeting indecencies didn't occur until the Federal Communications Commission announced its decision to begin prosecuting such indecencies in a 2004 case involving NBC and the Golden Globes Awards. As a result, broadcast stations facing indecency complaints (and delayed license renewals) for allegations of fleeting indecency should see those complaints dismissed by the FCC as long as the program at issue aired before the 2004 Golden Globes decision. Unfortunately, stations facing indecency complaints for programs aired after that 2004 decision may find that the Court ruling is irrelevant to them. In fact, the Court went out of its way to make clear that it was not ruling on any issue but the "vagueness" in the FCC's treatment of fleeting indecencies caused by the lack of notice of its change in enforcement policy. The Court's ruling therefore appears to be little more than a "reset" in which, with the limited exception of parties accused of airing fleeting indecency prior to 2004, broadcast stations find themselves in the exact same position as before this litigation started many years ago: unsure as to what content is or is not permissible, and with no additional guidance from the courts as to where the FCC may permissibly draw that line.
benton.org/node/126696 | CommLaw Center
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INDECENCY KICKED BACK TO FCC
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: David Saleh Rauf]
The battle between the government and broadcasters over a pop star’s profane slip of the lip or a TV drama’s brief flash of nudity is far from finished in the wake of Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling on the FCC’s indecency rules. The court essentially handed the hot potato back to the Federal Communications Commission by punting on the free speech issues in the case. “The Supreme Court decision leaves the big issues for a different day,” said Andrew Jay Schwartzman. “If the FCC chooses, there will be more fines and litigation that will go on for years. This is potentially a Pyrrhic victory.” The court did level a new layer of pressure on the FCC to amend its policy. In the SCOTUS majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy signaled that tweaks are in order. But what — if anything — the FCC does is still an open question. Some observers say the FCC’s most logical move would be to retreat to its practice before 2001, when the commission generally declined to sanction fleeting and isolated uses of expletives, except in very specific circumstances. “If they were to go back to the light touch, that would be one way to resolve this,” a broadcast source said. “In terms of constitutionality, that would be the smart thing to do.”
benton.org/node/126751 | Politico
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RECONSIDERING POLITICAL FILE RULE
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: Patrick Maines]
[Commentary] The question isn’t why broadcasters don’t want to provide their political files online (they are willing to do this), but why defenders of the Federal Communications Commission rule insist on requiring the online display of stations’ ad rates? After all, one of the main goals of the campaign finance laws is to provide, in a timely way, information about candidate and issue expenditures. It’s not the goal of these laws to compel TV stations to divulge their competitive secrets about ad rates and the like. [Patrick Maines is president of The Media Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes free speech, sound communications policies and journalistic excellence.]
benton.org/node/126749 | TVNewsCheck
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
MINIMUM TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS SUBMITTED BY THE TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD FOR FIRST RESPONDER INTEROPERABILITY
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission approved for transmittal to FirstNet the minimum technical requirements submitted by the Technical Advisory Board for First Responder Interoperability (Interoperability Board). The report entitled “Recommended Minimum Technical Requirements to Ensure Nationwide Interoperability for the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network” (Interoperability Board Report or Report) sets forth the recommended minimum technical requirements for interoperability.
The Spectrum Act, passed in February 2012, established the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) to oversee all actions necessary to ensure the building, deployment and operation of the nationwide public safety broadband network. The Act also established the Interoperability Board to develop recommended minimum technical requirements to ensure a nationwide level of interoperability for the nationwide public safety broadband network. The Commission approves for transmittal to FirstNet the Interoperability Board’s final report and delegates authority to the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to transmit the report to FirstNet.
benton.org/node/126716 | Federal Communications Commission | Order of Transmittal | read the report | Appendix B | Members of Board | Commissioner Rosenworcel | Commissioner Pai
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POLICYMAKERS
FADI CHEHADE
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun]
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers announced Fadi Chehade's appointment as CEO. He will replace former US cybersecurity chief Rod Beckstrom as chief executive. In selecting Chehade, ICANN went with someone who isn't well known and isn't well versed in the organization's core tasks — keeping the Internet address system running smoothly. Chehade does, however, have a knack for diplomacy. In the early days of e-commerce, he persuaded leading tech companies such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard to collaborate on a system called RosettaNet for exchanging data, even as they competed for customers. ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker said those achievements outweighed the drawbacks.
benton.org/node/126714 | Associated Press | The Hill
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