Headlines staff are fleeing Winter’s cold next week. We will return Monday, April 1, 2013
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2013
Next week’s light agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2013-03-24--P1W/
POLICYMAKERS
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes - analysis
FCC Chairman Genachowski to Step Down
Memorable Moments from a Departing Telecom Regulator
A Farewell to Commissioner McDowell and a Nod to the "Rational Regulator" - editorial
Sen Rubio Says Court Should Overturn Network Neutrality Rules
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC Adopts the 16th Mobile Competition Report - research
T-Mobile USA Merger With MetroPCS Clears Last Regulatory Hurdle [links to web]
FCC: Sprint buyout decision likely on track for late May [links to web]
FCC Moving Forward on Sept 2014 Auction
Sen Thune Calls for More Cleared Wireless Spectrum - press release [links to web]
Why cell phone unlocking bills fall short - op-ed [links to web]
Unlocking cellphones vs. wireless carriers - editorial [links to web]
Europe Weighs iPhone Sale Deals With Carriers for Antitrust Abuse
INTERNET
Higher Rural Broadband Adoption Linked with Economic Health
Promoting the Benefits of Digital Literacy - press release [links to web]
Deaf, Blind Sue Over Web Shopping
Senators warn against sales tax vote [links to web]
AT&T Told to Pay $27.5 Million After Losing Two-Way Trial [links to web]
CYBERSECURITY
Yes, Cyberattacks are perfectly Legal Under the Laws of War
Hackers can be battlefield targets, says NATO report
Weapons in Cyberattack on South Korea Killed Targeted PCs [links to web]
House GOP members criticize administration's response to cyber theft [links to web]
CONTENT
Web Money Gets Laundering Rule
Supreme Court Copyright Decision May Spur Congress to Revise Laws
Judge: AP news can't be used for free
People will give up their personal info if you give them a good reason [links to web]
Simon & Schuster will give authors direct access to piracy data for their books [links to web]
The limits of copyright law - editorial [links to web]
Advertisers tune in to YouTube ‘Generation C’ [links to web]
TELEVISION
Free State Panelists Free to Hammer Retransmission [links to web]
NAB: OET-69 Changes Violate Law [links to web]
CNN, MSNBC Criticized Over Lack Of Diversity In Recent Reshuffles [links to web]
Nielsen Finds Twitter Can Boost TV Ratings [links to web]
Pay TV Will Have to Keep Paying [links to web]
HEALTH
FDA: No ‘iPhone tax’ from health law [links to web]
EDUCATION
School Districts Seek Faster Internet Connections
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
US cyber plan calls for more scanning of private Web traffic
How hard should it be for the government to read your e-mail? - analysis [links to web]
Lawmakers push bill to limit GPS tracking [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Executives Press European Antitrust Chief on Google
Europe Weighs iPhone Sale Deals With Carriers for Antitrust Abuse
Mexico telecoms bill approved
How telecom reform in Mexico could impact U.S. immigration [links to web]
9 fascinating facts about how the world uses social networks [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Congress to force Postal Service to keep Saturday delivery [links to web]
6 Lessons Hollywood Is Learning From Silicon Valley - analysis [links to web]
MPAA Report: Global Box Office Breaks Records, China Becomes 2nd Largest Market [links to web]
Google’s trust problem [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
BIG CHANGES AT THE FCC
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] Our big news this week, obviously, was the big announcement from the Federal Communications Commission’s meeting March 20 that Robert McDowell, the current commissioner with the most tenure, is stepping down from the FCC. “[I]t is time to turn more of my energies towards an even higher calling: serving my family,” Commissioner McDowell said. He indicated that he would leave the FCC in a few weeks. Well, that WAS the big story right up to the moment we started penning this round-up and then heard that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski would announce his departure from the FCC on March 22.
http://benton.org/node/148494
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GENACHOWSKI TO ANNOUNCE DEPARTURE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Danny Yadron]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, the top regulator of U.S. telecom companies, is set to announce March 22 that he will step down, an FCC official and an industry official said. The chairman's departure will make the FCC short one Democrat and one Republican after Robert McDowell, the senior Republican on the five-member commission, announced he was stepping down this week. Their replacements require Senate confirmation.
benton.org/node/148493 | Wall Street Journal | GigaOM
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MEMORABLE MOMENTS FROM A DEPARTING TELECOM REGULATOR
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
After his seven-year stint regulating the nation’s communications industry, Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell had his share of colorful moments and exchanges with lasting impacts. Take these, for example:
Commissioner McDowell wanted to review every FCC regulation on the books.
He sometimes clashed publicly with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
Commissioner McDowell sounded the alarm on Internet freedom.
benton.org/node/148477 | National Journal
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THE RATIONAL REGULATOR
[SOURCE: CommLawCenter, AUTHOR: Scott Flick]
[Commentary] While in the works for a while, today's formal announcement by Federal Communications Commissioner member Robert McDowell that he will be departing the FCC leaves a hole in the FCC's ranks that will be difficult to fill. In many regards, Commissioner McDowell was a throwback to an earlier time, both at the FCC and in Washington, in that his tenure was distinguished not just by his congenial nature, but by an abiding adherence to his regulatory principles, rather than to reaching a particular result. While I suspect he might bristle at being described as a "rational regulator," preferring instead to be known as a "devoted deregulator," Commissioner McDowell represented a common-sense approach to the communications industry and the business of regulating it.
benton.org/node/148433 | CommLawCenter
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RUBIO’S COMMUNICATIONS PRIORITIES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a speech outlining his communications priorities, Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL) told a Free State Foundation forum audience that he hopes the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rules are overturned and warned against classifying Internet access under Title II as a backstop. He said they were chiefly keeping the Internet free of regulation foreign and domestic, making sure enough spectrum was being freed up, and FCC process reform. All that came under a philosophical umbrella of light-touch regulation that spurs investment in the economy. He criticized legacy regulations unsuited to a digital world, saying the market had moved past brick-sized phones and giant desk-top computers and that it was time Congress moved past the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
benton.org/node/148492 | Broadcasting&Cable
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
FCC ADOPTS THE 16TH MOBILE COMPETITION REPORT
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission is required to report annually to Congress on the state of competition in the mobile services marketplace. In June 2011, the FCC released the Fifteenth Report, which provided an analysis of mobile wireless market conditions during 2009 and, to the extent data were available, 2010. This year’s sixteenth Mobile Wireless Competition Report updates the data and analysis presented in the Fifteenth Report, and analyzes mobile wireless service market conditions during 2010 and 2011, as well as during 2012 to the extent data are available. The analysis includes “competitive market conditions with respect to commercial mobile services.” Like the Fifteenth Report, the Sixteenth Report presents a multitude of industry data on various aspects of mobile wireless competition. Consistent with the FCC’s first seven Annual Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) Competition Reports, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Reports did not reach an overall conclusion regarding whether or not the CMRS marketplace was effectively competitive, but provided an analysis and description of the CMRS industry’s competitive metrics and trends. The Sixteenth Report follows the same analytical framework used in the Fifteenth and Fourteenth Reports, with certain improvements based on responses to those Reports. The Sixteenth Report also makes no formal finding as to whether there is, or is not, effective competition in the industry. Rather, given the complexity of the various inter-related segments and services within the mobile wireless ecosystem, the Report focuses on presenting the best data available on competition throughout this sector of the economy and highlighting several key trends in the mobile wireless industry.
benton.org/node/148502 | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Genachowski | Commissioner McDowell | Commissioner Clyburn | Commissioner Pai
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AUCTION TARGETED FOR SEPT 2014
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
The Federal Communications Commission notified the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that it plans to commence the auction of licenses in the 1695-1710 MHz band and the 1755-1780 MHz band as early as September 2014. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai congratulated FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski for the move. “This is the first step in what will be an important process, and I look forward to working with my FCC colleagues, NTIA, and other stakeholders to help American consumers and the economy benefit from this spectrum as quickly as possible. In particular, I continue to believe that we should aim to clear and reallocate the 1755–1780 MHz band rather than forcing federal users and commercial operators to undertake the complicated, untested task of spectrum sharing,” said Commissioner Pai.
benton.org/node/148445 | Federal Communications Commission | Commissioner Pai
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INTERNET
BROADBAND ADOPTION AND ECONOMIC HEALTH
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
Higher rural broadband adoption rates are directly linked with economic health, according to new research. “Broadband adoption does have an impact on household income and employment,” said Sharon Stover of the University of Texas, on a webcast yesterday to present the findings. Stover is one of three people – including Brian Whitacre of Oklahoma State University and Roberto Gallardo of Mississippi State University – who conducted the research. The researchers measured economic health based on seven factors – including median household income, the percentage of people in poverty, the total people employed, non-farm proprietor income, the number of firms with paid employees, the percentage of non-farm proprietors and the percentage of employees classified as “creative class.” The research looked at the impact of broadband availability, download speeds, adoption rates and the number of broadband providers on the seven economic factors using three different modeling techniques. “If there were a lot of people without broadband available or not a lot of providers, it negatively impacts all seven economic measures,” said Whitacre. Depending on the modeling technique used, high broadband adoption rates (above 60%) positively impacted the total number of jobs and firms, median household income, poverty rates and unemployment rates, the researchers found. Interestingly, at least two of the modeling techniques showed that broadband adoption had a greater positive impact than broadband availability. While noting that “you can’t have adoption without availability,” Stover said the results suggest that policymakers “need to attend to the demand side.”
benton.org/node/148458 | telecompetitor | National Agricultural & Rural Development Policy Center
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WEB SHOPPING AND ACCESSIBILITY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Joe Palazzolo]
Commerce has moved online. Now, the disability lawsuits are following. Advocates for disabled Americans have declared that companies have a legal obligation to make their websites as accessible as their stores, and they've filed suits across the country to force them to install the digital version of wheelchair ramps and self-opening doors. Their theory that the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act applies to the modern Internet has been dismissed by several courts. Still, the National Federation of the Blind and the National Association of the Deaf have won legal victories against companies such as Target and Netflix. Both companies settled the cases after federal judges rejected arguments that their websites were beyond the scope of the ADA. "It's what I call 'eat your spinach' litigation," said Daniel F. Goldstein, a Baltimore lawyer who represents the NFB. "The market share you gain is more than the costs of making your site accessible."
benton.org/node/148500 | Wall Street Journal
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CYBERSECURITY
YES, CYBERATTACKS ARE PERFECTLY LEGAL UNDER THE LAWS OF WAR
[SOURCE: Government Executive, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
What’s the fastest way to annoy someone who works in national security? Just say "cyberwarfare" and watch them combust. The term is meaningless in the worst way -- it puts the imagination into paranoid overdrive and is not limited by any legal definitions. All the rules we’ve got on armed conflict today apply to ye olde bombs and bullets, not viruses and botnets. This makes a recent study from a group of NATO experts very, very welcome. Called the Tallinn Manual, it seeks to adapt the existing laws of war to cyberspace, laying down 95 new ideas over 282 pages. Many of them are just common-sense extensions of current international principles: According to one rule, cyberwarriors must take care not to hit the same targets that are off-limits to conventional forces. These include civilians, albeit with a crucial caveat: If you’re a civilian who’s decided to join the fight, you become a legitimate target even if you aren’t affiliated with a government or a military.
benton.org/node/148468 | Government Executive
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HACKERS AS TARGETS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Carlo Muñoz]
Hackers who carry out cyberattacks as part of a coordinated military campaign can be targeted as legitimate combatants, even if those individuals are civilian, according to a new NATO cyber warfare handbook. Targeting of civilian hackers is one of many recommended mandates in the handbook, which also outlines specific rules of engagement for offensive and defensive cyber warfare missions. The handbook, first reported by The Guardian, was commissioned by the alliance's Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence and included input from U.S. Cyber Command and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The NATO-commissioned handbook is the first major attempt to codify how alliance members will leverage cyber warfare capabilities in the field during future conflicts.
benton.org/node/148467 | Hill, The
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CONTENT
WEB MONEY GETS LAUNDERING RULE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Sparshott]
The U.S. is applying money-laundering rules to "virtual currencies," amid growing concern that new forms of cash bought on the Internet are being used to fund illicit activities. The move means that firms that issue or exchange the increasingly popular online cash will now be regulated in a similar manner as traditional money-order providers such as Western Union. They would have new bookkeeping requirements and mandatory reporting for transactions of more than $10,000. Moreover, firms that receive legal tender in exchange for online currencies or anyone conducting a transaction on someone else's behalf would be subject to new scrutiny, said proponents of Internet currencies.
benton.org/node/148499 | Wall Street Journal
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COPYRIGHT DECISION
[SOURCE: The Wrap, AUTHOR: Ira Teinowitz]
A day after a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed books and movies bought legally abroad to be resold in the U.S., members of House Judiciary Committee raised the possibility that the decision's biggest impact could be to spur Congress to revamp the nation’s copyright laws. Already examining those laws because of concerns that digital technology has left them badly outdated, members of the House Intellectual Property and Internet Subcommittee suggested the high court decision provides one more reason to act. “Yesterday’s opinion raises some concerns,” said Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA). Rep. George Holding (R-NC) repeatedly questioned Registrar of Copyrights Maria Pallante about the effect of the court decision.
benton.org/node/148435 | Wrap, The
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MELTWATER DECISION
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Larry Neumeister]
A company that relays excerpts of Internet news articles to its customers violates copyright laws, a judge said in a decision that gave The Associated Press a victory in its attempts to protect its online news content. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote rejected claims by Meltwater U.S. Holdings and its Meltwater News Service that its use of Web stories plucked from a scan of 162,000 news websites from more than 190 countries is a fair use of copyright-protected material. "Investigating and writing about newsworthy events occurring around the globe is an expensive undertaking and enforcement of the copyright laws permits AP to earn the revenue that underwrites that work," Judge Cote wrote. "Permitting Meltwater to take the fruit of AP's labor for its own profit, without compensating AP, injures AP's ability to perform this essential function of democracy." The judge noted that commercial Internet news clipping services like Meltwater perform an important function for their customers, but that "does not outweigh the strong public interest in the enforcement of the copyright laws or justify allowing Meltwater to free ride on the costly news gathering and coverage work performed by other organizations. Moreover, permitting Meltwater to avoid paying licensing fees gives it an unwarranted advantage over its competitors who do pay licensing fees."
benton.org/node/148486 | Associated Press
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EDUCATION
SCHOOLS AND INTERNET CONNECTIONS
[SOURCE: Education Week, AUTHOR: Michelle Davis]
Teachers across the country want to personalize learning through technology, districts are putting 1-to-1 computing initiatives in place, tablet devices are flooding into classrooms, and the 2014-15 deadline for online testing under the Common Core State Standards is drawing near. But none of those approaches or plans is possible without high-speed broadband connections. The Federal Communications Commission has made it a priority to get such fast, reliable connections to every school. It released a national broadband plan in 2010 with recommendations to achieve that goal, and it is slowly modernizing regulations for the federal E-rate program, which reimburses districts for many connectivity expenses. Though nearly every school is connected to the Internet, not all of them have the kind of connections that allow teachers and students to make full use of digital tools. Schools should have at least 100 megabits per second for their broadband connections by 2014-15, says a report issued last year by the State Educational Technology Directors Association, referring to the speed at which information is delivered to a computer. That's the same speed that the assessment coalitions behind online testing of the common-core standards suggest. But many schools do not have such high-speed connections, says Douglas Levin, the executive director of the Glen Burnie, Md.-based SETDA. Even worse, he says, some think they do—and are paying for such service—without really having it available.
benton.org/node/148431 | Education Week
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
SCANNING PRIVATE WEB TRAFFIC
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Joseph Menn, Deborah Charles]
The U.S. government is expanding a cybersecurity program that scans Internet traffic headed into and out of defense contractors to include far more of the country's private, civilian-run infrastructure. As a result, more private sector employees than ever before, including those at big banks, utilities and key transportation companies, will have their e-mails and Web surfing scanned as a precaution against cyberattacks. Under last month's White House executive order on cybersecurity, the scans will be driven by classified information provided by U.S. intelligence agencies - including data from the National Security Agency (NSA) - on new or especially serious espionage threats and other hacking attempts. U.S. spy chiefs said on March 12 that cyberattacks have supplanted terrorism as the top threat to the country. The Department of Homeland Security will gather the secret data and pass it to a small group of telecommunication companies and cybersecurity providers that have employees holding security clearances, government and industry officials said. Those companies will then offer to process email and other Internet transmissions for critical infrastructure customers that choose to participate in the program. By using DHS as the middleman, the Obama administration hopes to bring the formidable overseas intelligence-gathering of the NSA closer to ordinary U.S. residents without triggering an outcry from privacy advocates who have long been leery of the spy agency's eavesdropping.
benton.org/node/148469 | Reuters
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
EXECUTIVES PRESS EUROPEANS ON GOOGLE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Kevin O’Brien]
With the European inquiry into Google’s search engine practices entering a third year, a group of 11 web businesses sent a joint letter to Europe’s top antitrust official, asking him to compel Google to change its business practices to ensure that smaller rivals are not unfairly harmed. The letter, organized by one of the original complainants in the case, a British online shopping service called Foundem, asked the European competition commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, to take a hard line in ongoing negotiations with Google to produce “effective and future-proof” concessions that will protect small European competitors. “We are becoming increasingly concerned that effective and future-proof remedies might not emerge through settlement discussions alone,” the letter signed by the group stated. “In addition to materially degrading the user experience and limiting consumer choice, Google’s search manipulation practices lay waste to entire classes of competitors in every sector where Google chooses to deploy them.”
benton.org/node/148428 | New York Times
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EUROPE WEIGHS IPHONE SALE DEALS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brian Chen, Nick Wingfield, Kevin O’Brien]
European Union regulators are examining the contracts Apple strikes with cellphone carriers that sell its iPhone for possible antitrust violations after several carriers complained that the deals throttled competition. Although they have not filed formal complaints, a group of European wireless carriers recently submitted information about their contracts with Apple to the European Commission, according to a person briefed on the communications with the carriers who asked not to be identified. This person said the accusations focused on Apple’s contracts with French carriers, though other countries may also be involved. In a statement, the European Commission, the union’s administrative arm, which oversees antitrust enforcement in the 27-nation bloc, confirmed that it was examining Apple’s carrier deals. But it said it had not begun a formal antitrust investigation. The commission is not obligated to act until it receives a formal complaint of anticompetitive behavior. That it is already examining the contracts suggests that it is taking the carriers’ concerns seriously.
benton.org/node/148501 | New York Times
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MEXICO TELECOMS BILL APPROVED
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Adam Thomson]
Mexico’s lower house of Congress gave overwhelming general approval to a telecoms bill that seeks to curb the power of some of the country’s most powerful businessmen. The approval, by 414 votes to just 50 against, marks the first big step towards introducing more competition into telecoms and television as part of a wider push to make Latin America’s second-largest economy more competitive and grow faster. Introduced by centrist President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office just three months ago, the bill proposes the creation of a tough industry regulator able to label as “dominant” any company with more than 50 per cent of the telecoms or television markets. It could then impose a series of measures – ranging from asymmetric tariff structures all the way to forcing asset sales – to limit those companies’ power and to make it easier for new entrants to compete more effectively. At the same time, the bill proposes to raise the legal maximum shareholding of foreign investors in companies operating in the sectors – to 49 per cent in the case of television and to 100 per cent in the case of telecoms. Analysts say that the two companies most affected would be América Móvil, the pan-American telecoms company controlled by Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, and Televisa, the Mexican broadcaster.
benton.org/node/148495 | Financial Times
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