Headlines is off for a Spring Fling. We’ll return to your mailbox on MONDAY, APRIL 9, 2012
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2012
The FCC’s Emergency Access Advisory Committee meets today http://benton.org/calendar/2012-03-30/
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Apple Supplier in China Pledges Big Labor Changes
Vint Cerf attacks European internet policy
Two-Thirds Worldwide Say Media Are Free in Their Countries - research [links to web]
Case Based in China Puts a Face on Persistent Hacking
Counterterrorism Czar: China's Hacked Every Major U.S. Firm
PRIVACY
House Panel Discusses President’s Privacy Proposal
Washington Crams Before Spring Break - analysis
The Philosopher Whose Fingerprints Are All Over the FTC's New Approach to Privacy [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Michael Powell Works the Ref On The XBox360 Play - analysis
Rural areas get more, faster broadband
Washington Crams Before Spring Break - analysis
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
NTIA's $18 billion spectrum reallocation plan would force battlefield networks to move
Verizon Pitches Mobile Video
Smartphones Account for Half of all Mobile Phones, Dominate New Phone Purchases in the US - research [links to web]
T-Mobile Said to Hire TAP Advisors to Help Sell US Towers [links to web]
Verizon Fills Gap with Purchase of Cellular One Assets [links to web]
Washington Crams Before Spring Break - analysis
MEDIA & ELECTIONS
Senate Rules Committee Vets DISCLOSE Act [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Google’s Grand Plan
It’s not about piracy, it’s about a failure to adapt - analysis [links to web]
How Does News Corp. Make Its Money? [links to web]
TELEVISION/RADIO
Online or Out of Line? FCC Requests Copies of Entire Public Files - analysis
Limbaugh sees heat over comments turn down to a simmer [links to web]
Chairman Walden: Limbaugh Comments Reprehensible, But Speech Should Still Be Free [links to web]
CONTENT
Euro RSCG: 'Activist Consumers' Are Watching
It’s not about piracy, it’s about a failure to adapt - analysis [links to web]
Google's New 'Account Activity' Is a Sham - analysis [links to web]
Google Unveils New Revenue Option for Web Publishers [links to web]
E-Book Sales For Kids And Teens Surge [links to web]
EDUCATION
Why Tablets in the Classroom Could Save Schools $3 Billion a Year [links to web]
TELECOM
USTelecom Confronts Festering Problems with USF Contributions
Political Silly Season - editorial
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Here’s a tech-friendly cheat sheet to understanding Congress - analysis
Obama Administration Announces “Big Data” Initiative - press release
Two-Thirds Worldwide Say Media Are Free in Their Countries - research [links to web]
Commerce to run cybersecurity lab in the cloud [links to web]
County Overhauls Its Website to Engage Citizens in the Ways They Want [links to web]
Satellite-jamming becoming a big problem in the Middle East and North Africa [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
FOXCONN REPORT
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Charles Duhigg, Steven Greenhouse]
The Fair Labor Association has found widespread problems — including numerous instances where Foxconn violated Chinese law and industry codes of conduct by having employees work more than 60 hours a week, sometimes for 11 or more days in a row. Responding to the critical report about its factories, Foxconn, a leading Asian company that makes electronic products for Apple, Dell, Amazon and others, has pledged to sharply curtail the number of working hours in its Chinese factories and significantly increase wages, a move that could improve working conditions across China. The monitoring group, which in recent weeks surveyed more than 35,000 Foxconn employees and inspected three large facilities where Apple products are manufactured, also found that 43 percent of workers surveyed had experienced or witnessed accidents, and almost two-thirds said their compensation “does not meet their basic needs.” Many said that the unions available to them did “not provide true worker representation.” “There’s this lingering sense among workers that they’re in a dangerous place,” Auret van Heerden, president and chief executive of the Fair Labor Association, said in an interview. But Foxconn has “reached a tipping point. They have publicly promised to make changes in a manner that they will have to deliver on it.”
benton.org/node/118393 | New York Times | Fair Labor Association | WSJ | WashPost | LATimes | AP | The Hill | Reuters | Bloomberg | Fortune
Recommend this Headline
back to top
CERF ON EUROPEAN INTERNET POLICY
[SOURCE: The Telegraph, AUTHOR: Matt Warman]
Vint Cerf, often called the father of the internet, said that the so-called ‘right to be forgotten’ online was “not possible to achieve”. He told The Telegraph, “You can’t go out and remove content from everybody’s computer just because you want the world to forget about something. I don’t think it’s a practical proposition at all.” Cerf warned “It’s very, very hard to get the internet to forget things that you don’t want it to remember because it’s easy to download and copy and reupload files again later.” He added that “The analogue [equivalent of this digital idea] is terrifying; if somebody said ‘I want everyone to forget about this book that I published because it’s embarrassing’, how would you implement that? You would have to break in to people’s homes and take the book off the bookshelves. There’s some legal issues with that and it seems to me that it shouldn’t be any easier in the online world.”
benton.org/node/118340 | Telegraph, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top
PUTTING A FACE ON HACKING
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nicole Perlroth]
A breach of computers belonging to companies in Japan and India and to Tibetan activists has been linked to a former graduate student at a Chinese university — putting a face on the persistent espionage by Chinese hackers against foreign companies and groups. The attacks were connected to an online alias, according to a report to be released by Trend Micro, a computer security firm with headquarters in Tokyo. The owner of the alias, according to online records, is Gu Kaiyuan, a former graduate student at Sichuan University, in Chengdu, China, which receives government financing for its research in computer network defense. Gu is now apparently an employee at Tencent, China’s leading Internet portal company, also according to online records. According to the report, he may have recruited students to work on the university’s research involving computer attacks and defense. The researchers did not link the attacks directly to government-employed hackers. But security experts and other researchers say the techniques and the victims point to a state-sponsored campaign.
benton.org/node/118397 | New York Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top
EVERY MAJOR US FIRM HACKED?
[SOURCE: Fast Company, AUTHOR: Neal Ungerleider]
Counterterrorism guru Richard A. Clarke has publicly admitted a bit of an open secret: Every major corporation in the United States has been infiltrated by Chinese hackers. Clarke, who now heads risk management firm Good Harbor Consulting, told journalist Ron Rosenbaum that Chinese hackers have been systematically stealing trade secrets from American firms on behalf of Chinese and foreign companies. While this has been known for a long time, Clarke's admission was made in shockingly blunt language. In the interview, published in Smithsonian magazine, Clarke states that “I’m about to say something that people think is an exaggeration, but I think the evidence is pretty strong--every major company in the United States has already been penetrated by China.” Clarke also alleges that Chinese hackers stole details about the manufacture of the F-35 fighter bomber, and that America's tech supply chain for chips, routers, and hardware may be infected with Chinese logic bombs, trapdoors, and Trojans waiting to be activated at a future date. One of Clarke's greatest fears is a “death of a thousand cuts” for American innovation, and of a situation where R&D secrets from large corporations are systematically stolen by Chinese and foreign hackers. Not coincidentally, Good Harbor boasts an extensive cybersecurity department providing boutique enterprise safety services.
benton.org/node/118396 | Fast Company | see the Smithsonian interview
Recommend this Headline
back to top
PRIVACY
HOUSE PANEL DISCUSSES PRESIDENT’S PRIVACY PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: House of Representatives Commerce Committee]
The House Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, chaired by Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), held a hearing to discuss President Barack Obama’s new privacy proposal and to consider whether it strikes the right balance between protecting privacy and preserving Internet growth. Last month, the White House released its privacy framework proposing a consumer privacy “bill of rights” and enforceable industry codes of conduct. Similarly, this week the Federal Trade Commission released its final privacy report, which includes a list of best privacy practices for data collection and user companies and recommends Congress take legislative action. Members of the subcommittee questioned Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz and Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communication and Information Lawrence Strickling about these proposals and the Administration’s views on Internet privacy. Industry stakeholders also testified today to give their views on the administration’s privacy plan.
Although the lawmakers seemed to agree on the importance of consumer protections online, many remain skeptical of the need for legislation and government regulation. They have concerns that recommended mandates could stifle innovation and limit job growth. “I am highly skeptical of Congress’ or a government regulator’s ability to keep up with the innovative and vibrant pace of the Internet without breaking it. Consumers and the economy as a whole will not be well served by government attempts to wrap the web in red tape. And we cannot ignore that Internet companies have a strong incentive to protect their users – it’s called consumer choice,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI).
“Before we do any possible harm to the Internet, we need to understand what harm is actually being done to consumers. Where is the public outcry for legislation? Today, I’m simply not hearing it. I haven’t gotten a single letter from anyone back home urging me to pass a privacy bill. That may change – and it probably will – if industry doesn’t come up with better safeguards for consumers in the future. But right now, we should resist the urge to ‘rush to judgment’ because we feel a compelling need to do something – even if we’re not exactly sure what that should be,” said Chairman Bono Mack.
benton.org/node/118392 | House of Representatives Commerce Committee | FTC | NTIA | B&C | AdWeek | The Hill
Recommend this Headline
back to top
WASHINGTON CRAMS BEFORE SPRING BREAK
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] With a two-week Spring Recess looming, Washington communications policymakers were busy this week. Here’s some highlights. 1) On March 26, the Federal Trade Commission released Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers, a report setting forth best practices for businesses to protect the privacy of American consumers and give them greater control over the collection and use of their personal data. 2) While the FTC was asking Congress to work on privacy protections, the House was passing legislation that would require the Federal Communications Commission to do more study and require more public input before releasing regulations, and weaken the FCC's ability to dictate the terms of mergers between communications mergers. 3) The Investigative Reporting Workshop recently analyzed FCC and Census Bureau data to create a map that shows subscribership rates and demographic information at the Census tract level. The findings illustrate a Digital Divide rooted in the gap between the rich and the poor. 4) On March 27, the NTIA announced its finding that 95 megahertz (MHz) of prime spectrum could be repurposed for wireless broadband use.
http://benton.org/node/118328
back to top
INTERNET/BROADBAND
MICHEL POWELL AND COMCAST
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] Michael Powell, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and now the head of the National Cable Telecommunications Association (NCTA), professes confusion and consternation at our raising the alarm about Comcast’s decision to exempt its Xfinity ap for the XBox360 from its 250 GB bandwidth cap. Rather than addressing the issue, Powell basically argues that the only reason PK (or anyone else) could possibly see anything here to worry about is because we're either crazy alarmists or because we are "trying to get another bite at the regulatory apple." In sports, we refer to this kind of behavior as 'working the ref.' Happily, we don’t have to take PK’s word for it that this kind of conduct raises some pretty serious competition questions worthy of examination. The Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DoJ) explained why conduct like this raises alarm bells back when Comcast bought NBCU last year. In fact, DoJ even put a merger condition directly on point. Ah yes, here it is:
"If Comcast offers consumers Internet Access Service under a package that includes caps, tiers, metering, or other usage-based pricing, it shall not measure, count, or otherwise treat Defendants’ affiliated network traffic differently from unaffiliated network traffic. Comcast shall not prioritize Defendants’ Video Programming or other content over other Persons’ Video Programming or other content."
benton.org/node/118342 | Public Knowledge
Recommend this Headline
back to top
MORE, FASTER RURAL BROADBAND
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Andrew Feinberg]
Rural residents are finding it increasingly easy to subscribe to broadband Internet services, and receive increasingly faster speeds thanks to the efforts of community-based communications providers, according to survey results released by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA). NTCA's 2011 Broadband/Internet Availability Study found that 58 percent of those respondents with a fiber-deployment strategy plan to offer fiber to the node (where the final link from the pole to the customer isn't fiber) to more than 75 percent of their customers by the end of 2014. Sixty-six percent plan to offer fiber to the homes of at least half their customers in that same time frame — a 46 percent increase over last year's results. The survey also showed rapidly increasing broadband speeds, with respondents reporting that more than 7 in 10 customers can receive speeds as fast as 6 Mbps. Forty-six percent can receive between 6 and 10 Mbps, and 32 percent can surf faster than 10 Mbps. And 66 percent of respondents' customers are electing to subscribe to broadband, an increase of 11 percent from last year.
benton.org/node/118350 | Hill, The | NTCA
Recommend this Headline
back to top
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
BATTLEFIELD NETWORKS
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Bob Berwin]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said it would cost $18 billion to reallocate 95MHz of federal spectrum for commercial use and take at least a decade to complete. NTIA released the findings in a detailed analysis of the plan. The agency wants to move more than 3,100 individual frequency assignments of 20 federal agencies out of the 1755-1850 MHz frequency band to other bands. It will pay for this shift from auctions of spectrum to commercial providers. "Current law requires that auction proceeds exceed expected federal relocation costs. Since federal relocation costs are expected to be high, any repurposing option needs to promote economic value while ensuring no loss of critical federal capabilities," NTIA said. The reallocation plan calls for shifting two key Army battlefield network systems, Warfighter Information Network-Tactical and the backpack version of the Joint Tactical Radio System, the agency said in an appendix to the analysis.
benton.org/node/118386 | nextgov
Recommend this Headline
back to top
VERIZON MOBILE VIDEO
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Anton Troianovski]
Verizon Communications Chief Executive Lowell McAdam said the company could have a wireless video service by year-end that lets pay-TV subscribers see some content on their mobile devices if regulators approve a proposed cable partnership. McAdam said an "integrated" service could be made available to customers of Verizon Wireless, Verizon's pay-TV service and its new cable-company partners. "We could have something out that would be the beginnings of an integrated offering in time for the holidays," he said. Serving up TV shows and movies on mobile devices—and getting paid for it—has been a long-held dream for the wireless industry. With the introduction of next-generation high-speed wireless networks and big-screen devices like Apple’s latest iPad, ubiquitous mobile video seems closer than ever. "Most content providers realize that the number of channels and the layout that you have within your home may not be appropriate for the mobile environment, and those discussions are just beginning now," McAdam said. Some content providers, he said, "have come to us and have said, 'We are willing to do an à la carte approach here.'"
benton.org/node/118395 | Wall Street Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top
OWNERSHIP
GOOGLE’S GRAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Farhad Manjoo]
How has Google changed in the year since Larry Page returned as CEO? From the outside, Google seems to have become a totally different company under Page. Where the search company once seemed chaotic and experimental—a firm that launched so many different overlapping initiatives that you wondered if there was anyone in charge—it’s now disciplined, aggressive, and to a lot of people, scary. Page shut down dozens of projects that were not central to Google’s mission. At the same time, he launched a new social network, Google+, that he’s pushing to become the central repository of all Google users’ personal data. Page also altered Google’s privacy policy to allow the company to use information it gleans from one Google product to serve ads to you in other products. And with the purchase of Motorola Mobility, Page put Google in the smartphone manufacturing business, making it a direct competitor to other companies that use its Android operating system. By every measure, Google is now a bolder, more disciplined, more ferocious combatant in the Valley’s tech wars. Under Page, the pace of Google’s purchases hasn’t slowed down, but the nature of the companies that Google is interested in has changed.
Google operates seven businesses (search, advertising, social networking, Android, Chrome, YouTube, and local mobile commerce). It’s not starting new ones anytime soon.
Google wants to add “depth” to its products.
The Justice Department is slowing Google down.
Larry Page wants results.
benton.org/node/118341 | Slate
Recommend this Headline
back to top
TELEVISION/RADIO
BROADCASTERS’ PUBLIC FILES
[SOURCE: CommLawCenter, AUTHOR: Scott Flick]
As the Federal Communications Commission's proceeding to require television stations to place their public inspection files (including their political files) online heats up, life is becoming strange for a number of television stations around the country. In a move presumably connected with the online public file proceeding, FCC inspectors have appeared at television stations in several markets and demanded that the stations provide them with a complete copy of their entire public inspection files within 48 hours or less. Given that most public files are measured in yards, not feet, of paper, there are a lot of broadcast employees burning the midnight oil trying to comply. But why such a strange and burdensome request? If the FCC wanted to merely determine whether a station's file is complete, it can just look at the original file during its visit to the station--it doesn't need its own copy. Besides, the fact that a document is missing from the duplicates provided to the FCC would be weak evidence that the station's actual file is defective, since it would hardly be surprising if a few documents failed to get copied in this highly rushed process.
benton.org/node/118332 | CommLawCenter
Recommend this Headline
back to top
CONTENT
ACTIVIST CONSUMERS
[SOURCE: MediaPost, AUTHOR: Karl Greenberg]
Global agency Euro RSCG Worldwide has been publishing research and thought leadership content for years. It is expanding into a new series area, the Consumer Conscience Study. The study's raison d'être is that growing numbers of consumers are "activist consumers," thinking about where products come from and how they themselves can influence policy and corporate behavior with their purchases. Kate Robertson, Euro RSCG UK group chairman talked about the findings from the first in the series “Blueprint for a Sustainable Brand.” It was released at the 4A’s Transformation Conference in Los Angeles. She warned that brands can no longer assume – and social media obviously is the elephant in the room – that they aren't the subject of close scrutiny. "The tidal wave of the social media revolution is inexorably rolling over us and exposing all—everything will come out, if not today then for sure tomorrow,” she said.
benton.org/node/118388 | MediaPost
Recommend this Headline
back to top
TELECOM
CALL FOR USF CONTRIBUTION REFORM
[SOURCE: JSI Capital Advisors, AUTHOR: Cassandra Heyne]
USTelecom’s vice president of policy David Cohen filed a letter to the Federal Communications Commission on March 28, 2012 outlining extensive problems with the current Universal Service Fund (USF) contributions methodology and recommending several near-term administrative reforms to clean up the system. USTelecom argues that the current system is “rife with outdated methods and procedures that create waste, inefficiency and destabilizing competitive discrepancies.” USTelecom does not believe that the problems will be fixed simply by broadening the contributions base—rather; the FCC should immediately consider some housekeeping and clarification measures for the underlying contributions rules and procedures.
USTelecom identifies three categories of pervasive problems with the current system:
First, the service classifications are not reflective of the actual marketplace: “With the rapid introduction of…new broadband IP-based services into the market, the dividing line between telecommunications services on one hand, and information services on the other, is becoming increasingly blurred.” The FCC has failed to keep the USF contributions methodology on track with market momentum, which USTelecom believes has slowed down the deployment of IP services.
Second, USTelecom believes that jurisdictional distinctions like state boundaries “are simply irrelevant to how consumers select and buy communications services.”
Lastly, the resale/wholesale distinction is “burdensome and ineffective;” and “turns wholesale providers into enforcement agents of the Commission, requiring them to collect certifications from reseller customers attesting to USF contributions.
benton.org/node/118394 | JSI Capital Advisors
Recommend this Headline
back to top
POLITICAL SILLY SEASON
[SOURCE: Verizon, AUTHOR: Link Hoewing]
[Commentary] Some simply decide to describe the “political market place” in that way for a variety of reasons. It can be easy to be dismissive of politicians and it is hard work to really get below the surface and find the facts. And it may suit the purposes of some better simply to either dismiss or ignore evidence to the contrary and conclude that all politicians are the same. I feel that way when I hear some advocates talk about competition in the broadband market. Here is an example from a hearing that occurred just the other day that partially focused on competition in the mobile market place:
“Consumers are being locked in to the few large incumbents offering service and competitors are being locked out of the marketplace.”
Or take this statement from the same hearing by another advocate:
“The dominant firms in a communications industry, whatever they may say, have little interest in competition. Left alone, history suggests the industry will drift toward monopoly or duopoly.”
The implication of these comments is that consumers have little or no choice, that carriers don’t have to work hard to satisfy and attract consumers, and that the market is dominated by big companies. Of course the essence of a competitive market is consumer choice. Consumers drive markets that are working well. What is interesting about these comments – and about the testimony of these advocates – is that while consumer choice is at the heart of what makes a market competitive, neither advocate cited any evidence that consumers are not making or are not able to make choices. They cited a lot of other data but nothing on this fundamental point. Why? I think it is for the same reason that some castigate politicians for all being the same - it is simply easier to ignore evidence to the contrary.
benton.org/node/118331 | Verizon
Recommend this Headline
back to top
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
UNDERSTANDING CONGRESS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Recently-passed Federal Communications Commission reform legislation serves as a good example to help show technologists and entrepreneurs how DC works in terms they might relate to. Statements from the CTIA, which represents the wireless industry and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association used almost the exact same language to describe the benefits of the bill. So did Greg Walden (R-OR), the bill’s sponsor. This is hardly an accident -- DC insiders use jargon, too, they just call them talking points.
DC isn’t binary even though it pretends it is. Partisanship rules the TV airwaves and media because conflict makes a great story. And while most politics is theater, designed to get a politician ratings and curry favor among his or her base, real compromises can and do happen behind the scenes.
Legislation doesn’t follow if-then statements either. In programming you can tell a computer that if item A happens, then it should implement Item B and D. But when it comes to legislation and regulation there’s no guarantee it will play out like you want.
No one talks about tradeoffs. In the tech world there are very clear tradeoffs that most engineers will admit. If you want faster memory, you might have to pay more for Flash. If you want a brighter display your battery life will go down. In DC the tradeoffs are there, but no one talks about them.
benton.org/node/118354 | GigaOm
Recommend this Headline
back to top
BIG DATA RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Press release]
Aiming to make the most of the fast-growing volume of digital data, the Obama Administration announced a “Big Data Research and Development Initiative.” By improving our ability to extract knowledge and insights from large and complex collections of digital data, the initiative promises to help solve some the Nation’s most pressing challenges. To launch the initiative, six Federal departments and agencies today announced more than $200 million in new commitments that, together, promise to greatly improve the tools and techniques needed to access, organize, and glean discoveries from huge volumes of digital data. The initiative was created to:
Advance state-of-the-art core technologies needed to collect, store, preserve, manage, analyze, and share huge quantities of data.
Harness these technologies to accelerate the pace of discovery in science and engineering, strengthen our national security, and transform teaching and learning; and
Expand the workforce needed to develop and use Big Data technologies.
benton.org/node/118391 | White House, The | OSTP | The Hill
Recommend this Headline
back to top