October 21, 2013 (Tech, telecom policy stuck in neutral)

AGENDA

POLICY STRUCK IN NEUTRAL
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
Now that Congress has reopened the federal government, lawmakers can get back to what they had been doing all along on tech and telecom policy -- not a whole lot. The endless string of battles over the budget this year has sapped time and energy from the corners of Capitol Hill that grind away quietly at complex tech policy issues. And the next fiscal crisis looming over the House and Senate is threatening to disrupt that work again -- incapacitating immigration reform, stalling key federal nominees and delaying proposals to restrict the National Security Agency’s controversial surveillance programs. When Congress is “spending all of our time creating crises and helping to destroy the American economy,” the Hill’s attention is simply “diverted from other issues,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), whose district includes several headquarters for tech companies. In fact, many of the tech and telecom policy priorities now sitting idly on lawmakers’ plates are actually leftovers from last year. And a number of those key bills and oversight hearings are now in danger of slipping yet again, into 2014 election-year territory when the politics will only intensify.
benton.org/node/163093 | Politico
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

FISA REAUTHORIZES NSA PROGRAMS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the court that oversees National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance programs, reauthorized the agency’s collection of bulk telephone data, saying that Congress had already approved the reauthorization of the program. Judge Mary McLaughlin said she supports a ruling from earlier in the year, reauthorizing Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, which allows the NSA to collect bulk telephone data. To justify her ruling, Judge McLaughlin points to “Congress’ reenactment of Section 215 after receiving information about the government’s ... interpretation of the statute.” “Although the existence of the [bulk telephone data collection] program was classified until several months ago ... many Members of Congress were aware of, and each Member had the opportunity to learn about, the scope of the metadata collection,” Judge McLaughlin wrote.
benton.org/node/163083 | Hill, The
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CHANCE TO RESHAPE NSA
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
The upcoming retirement of National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander will give President Barack Obama an opportunity to transform the agency. Currently, he does not need Senate approval to appoint an NSA director, one of the most powerful positions in the intelligence community. Privacy advocates are hoping that Obama will pick someone who has a less expansive view of the NSA's surveillance power.
benton.org/node/163082 | Hill, The
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THE TOP 5 THINGS WE’VE LEARNED ABOUT THE NSA THANKS TO EDWARD SNOWDEN
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Cyrus Farivar]
In June2013, the Internet at large became significantly more acquainted with the National Security Agency. It's all thanks to Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor with access to an unprecedented volume of documents. What we’ve learned:
American telecommunications companies are compelled to routinely hand over metadata to the government
Digital surveillance programs PRISM and XKeyscore capture vast amounts of data
US companies have done little to resist government pressure
NSA's sister organization in the UK, GCHQ, does what the NSA can’t
NSA analysts even used capabilities to spy on their exes
What has happened since:
As a way to prevent future leaks, the NSA fired nearly all its systems administrators
Privacy-minded e-mail providers shut themselves down under pressure
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opened up and published opinions
Patriot Act author said that NSA’s interpretation is overbroad
Congressional reforms introduced, remain slow-moving
benton.org/node/163062 | Ars Technica
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ACLU SUES GOVERNMENT OVER USE OF NSA SURVEILLANCE IN CRIMINAL CASES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit, asking that the US government answer questions about its policy of notifying criminal defendants when they were monitored through the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs. The “lawsuit aims to reveal how the government justified keeping defendants in the dark about evidence based on NSA surveillance, and what the policy is today,” ACLU Staff Attorney Patrick Toomey said. The civil liberties advocacy group had challenged the law authorizing NSA surveillance, but the Supreme Court dismissed the case earlier in 2013, saying the ACLU could not prove it had been subject of the surveillance programs. It’s clear that the government is using NSA surveillance information in criminal cases, as evidenced by congressional testimony by FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce and statements from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the ACLU said in the lawsuit. Both have defended NSA surveillance programs by citing examples of cases where surveillance has aided criminal investigations.
benton.org/node/163066 | Hill, The | ars technica
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE

WORK ON HEALTH SITE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Sharon LaFraniere, Ian Austen, Robert Pear]
Federal contractors have identified most of the main problems crippling President Obama’s online health insurance marketplace, but the Administration has been slow to issue orders for fixing those flaws, and some contractors worry that the system may be weeks away from operating smoothly, people close to the project say. Administration officials approached the contractors last week to see if they could perform the necessary repairs and reboot the system by Nov. 1. However, that goal struck many contractors as unrealistic, at least for major components of the system. Some specialists working on the project said the online system required such extensive repairs that it might not operate smoothly until after the Dec. 15 deadline for people to sign up for coverage starting in January, although that view is not universally shared. In interviews, experts said the technological problems of the site went far beyond the roadblocks to creating accounts that continue to prevent legions of users from even registering. Indeed, several said, the login problems, though vexing to consumers, may be the easiest to solve. One specialist said that as many as five million lines of software code may need to be rewritten before the Web site runs properly.
benton.org/node/163094 | New York Times | CSM | WSJ
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HERE’S HOW OBAMA’S FIRST CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER DEFENDS THE HEALTHCARE.GOV LAUNCH
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Andrea Peterson]
It's no secret that the launch of HealthCare.gov was plagued with problems. But President Barack Obama's first Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra defended the launch, saying "glitches happen." Chopra left the White House in 2012 to launch an unsuccessful campaign to become the lieutenant governor of Virginia. He made the comments about the HealthCare.gov launch during a discussion with Thomas Friedman at an Aspen Institute "Socrates Salon." When Friedman asked what happened to HealthCare.gov, Chopra admitted not everything had gone right, but asked the audience to "put it in the context that glitches happen." He then compared the issues to problems in commercial products, saying that it was like when United and Continental Airlines needed time after their merger to integrate their reservations systems, or how Twitter's fail whale made a lot of appearances during the 2010 FIFA World Cup as the service became overwhelmed.
benton.org/node/163068 | Washington Post
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DID POLITICS HELP CAUSE HEALTHCARE.GOV FAILURES?
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Joseph Marks]
Politics may have had as much to do with the HealthCare.gov failure as they had to do with the government shutdown, according to Lawrence Kocot, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and formerly senior advisor to the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who helped launch an online Drug Plan Finder application for Medicare Part D, the Medicare prescription drug benefit, in 2004 and 2005. When a new government program is the subject of intense political debate, that can make building the technology systems that support the program especially difficult, he said. “Politics has probably played more of a role in this than in any other rollout I’ve seen,” Kocot said of the online health insurance marketplace. “That probably made [agencies and contractors responsible for designing the system] more guarded about information they were willing to share,” he said. “It probably resulted in a level of scrutiny of some decisions by career staff that otherwise may not have been as intense. It probably made them more aware of oversight. It probably hampered communication with other parties.” Increased scrutiny can be a good thing, he said, helping to catch errors early in the process and to ensure a host of federal agencies, state agencies, regulators, contractors and private-sector interests are all on the same page.
benton.org/node/163052 | nextgov
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INTERNET DURING THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] A funny thing happened while we all watched the tragic comedy known as the budget crisis – someone went and made some decisions about the future of the Internet. Or, well, not to put too fine a point on it, decided we need to make some major decisions on how to govern the Internet. Meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay, the leaders of organizations responsible for coordination of the Internet technical infrastructure globally recognized that the Internet and World Wide Web have been built and governed in the public interest through unique mechanisms for global multistakeholder Internet cooperation, which have been intrinsic to their success. OK, all good so far. But the leaders went on to discuss “the clear need to continually strengthen and evolve these mechanisms, in truly substantial ways, to be able to address emerging issues faced by stakeholders in the Internet.” And that’s what’s raising eyebrows.
http://benton.org/node/162742

ILLINOIS HIGH COURT REJECTS AMAZON TAX
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: John O'Connor]
The Illinois Supreme Court threw out a state law that taxes certain Internet sales, saying the so-called "Amazon tax" violated federal rules against "discriminatory taxes" on digital transactions. The 6-1 ruling represented the first time a court had invalidated an Internet sales tax law among 18 states that have them. It brought an immediate cry from traditional, store-based retailers for Congress to step into regulating taxes on web sales. The court determined that Illinois' 2011 "Main Street Fairness Act" was superseded by the federal law, which prohibits imposing a tax on "electronic commerce" and obligates collection that's not required of transactions by other means, such as print or television.
benton.org/node/163080 | Associated Press
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

AT&T CELL TOWER DEAL
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Gryta, Dana Mattioli]
AT&T plans to lease a portfolio of cell towers, and sell some others, to Crown Castle International for about $4.85 billion as the telecom giant cashes in on consolidation among tower operators and seeks to spend its money elsewhere. Under the deal, AT&T will lease the rights to about 9,100 towers and sell about 600 towers. The transaction is expected to close by year-end. AT&T said last month that it was exploring the sale of some or all of its cell towers. Under the deal, Crown Castle can lease and operate the towers with an average lease term of about 28 years. When the leases expire, the company will have the option to buy the towers for a total of about $4.2 billion. AT&T will sublease space on the towers for at least 10 years with an option to renew up to a total of 50 years.
benton.org/node/163088 | Wall Street Journal | FT
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GOOGLE’S MOTOROLA PLAN?
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Farhad Manjoo]
[Commentary] What is Google's long-term plan for Motorola? Did it buy the business just for patents, or does Google really want to be in the hardware business? How much money is Google willing to sink into it? Here's a theory: What if profits aren't part of the plan at Motorola? What if Google's plan for smartphones isn't to directly make money for itself but, instead, an attempt to destroy money for other companies by making the phone a commodity device? In particular, think of Motorola as a long-term effort to drive down the insanely high profits raked in by just two companies -- Apple and, to a lesser extent, Samsung -- on a single product line, smartphones. Over the long run, Google can't abide these profits. As a corporate entity, Google is obsessively, almost religiously devoted to a single, towering mission. Everything it does, from core products such as Android and Chrome to far-out flights of fancy like robotic cars and computerized glasses, furthers a single goal: to get more people to use the Internet more often. In Google's view of the world, the iPhone is way overpriced. If the iPhone were cheaper, Apple would sell a lot more phones than it does now. So too would the rest of the industry, since other companies peg their smartphone prices to Apple's. This would be a boon for Google: More iPhones means more surfing (especially search), which means more ad dollars for Google.
benton.org/node/163089 | Wall Street Journal
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WHY IT JUST MIGHT MAKE SENSE TO SHARE YOUR MOBILE BANDWIDTH
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Kevin Tofel]
With only 2 billion people connected to the Internet around the world, getting the other 5 billion will take enormous amounts of capital expenditures. Unless we all start sharing our mobile broadband access, that is. So what can the industry do? Plenty, actually, provided that people have incentives and easy ways to share their mobile broadband. Steven van Wel, CEO of Karma, said not to think of this as sharing bandwidth but rather, sharing access to the Internet. That’s exactly what his company provides: A hotspot that provides Internet access to others nearby. And the more a customer shares their hotspot access, the more free data they get in return.
benton.org/node/163058 | GigaOm
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TABLET AND E-READER OWNERSHIP UPDATE
[SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project, AUTHOR: Lee Rainie, Aaron Smith]
The number of Americans ages 16 and older who own tablet computers has grown to 35%, and the share who have e-reading devices like Kindles and Nooks has grown to 24%. Overall, the number of people who have a tablet or an e-book reader among those 16 and older now stands at 43%. Up from 25% in 2012, more than half of those in households earning $75,000 or more now have tablets. Up from 19% in 2012, 38% of those in upper-income households now have e-readers.
benton.org/node/163046 | Pew Internet and American Life Project
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TELEVISION/RADIO

SEISMIC SHIFTS REMAKE THE RADIO INDUSTRY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Paul Goldstein]
[Commentary] There is a tectonic shift undermining the very foundation of broadcast radio. Multiple metrics make it clear that serious threats imposed on the FM/AM platform by new online competitors are escalating exponentially. As change happens all around them, radio broadcasters tout the health of their business and how the competitive threat of Internet rivals is overstated. I understand the need to present their case to advertisers. But their sales narrative, an echo chamber of their own making, cements complacency and fosters lack of innovation. A new Edison research study warns that among the six most common places where listeners consume audio media, broadcast radio dominates in just two of them (in a car, at home); is tied with Internet radio for two (at work, on public transportation); and is defeated by Internet radio in two (while working out, while walking around). Another red flag in the study for broadcasters is that 50 percent of at-work listeners who listen to Internet-radio-only stations/services (that is, stations/services that don’t broadcast on FM/AM) have replaced their FM/AM listening time with Internet-radio-only stations/services.
[Paul Goldstein is an award-winning audience development executive]
benton.org/node/163076 | Wall Street Journal
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SINCLAIR SCRUTINY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Keach Hagey]
Federal Communications Commission rules tracing to the 1940s prohibit anyone's owning more than one TV station in a market like Columbus (OH). But Sinclair can run major aspects of all three because of an approach the FCC allowed 22 years ago that lets a company manage stations it doesn't own. Companies that outsource station management are sometimes called "sidecars." Sinclair is America's biggest station owner and operator, thanks in part to sidecar agreements. Gannett and Tribune have proposed to expand, in part, through sidecar agreements, which have become widespread in the industry. Sinclair says such agreements are vital in competing against the Web and other new suitors for viewer attention. "It's necessary for survival because of the evolutionary nature of the competitive ad-selling marketplace," says Daivid Smith, Sinclair's chief executive. Opponents of media consolidation say broadcasters use sidecar agreements as loopholes that let them violate the spirit of FCC ownership rules, which the agency says promote "competition, localism and diversity." When one owner manages multiple stations in a market, they say, it reduces local-news quality and variety, and drives up pay-TV bills.
benton.org/node/163091 | Wall Street Journal
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TELECOM

FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON THE LIFELINE BIENNIAL AUDIT PLAN
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communication Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), in conjunction with the Office of Managing Director (OMD), seeks comment on the Lifeline Biennial Audit Plan to develop standard procedures for independent biennial audits of carriers receiving $5 million or more annually from the low-income universal service support program. By establishing uniform audit procedures to review the internal controls and processes of Lifeline service providers, WCB is implementing another major reform established by the FCC to protect the Federal Universal Service Fund (USF) from waste, fraud and abuse. Eligible Telecommunications Carriers (ETCs) receiving $5 million or more in a calendar year on a holding company basis are subject to this biennial audit requirement. For the first biennial audit, ETCs receiving $5 million or more in calendar year 2013 will be subject to this biennial audit requirement, and will begin such audits in 2014 upon release of the final Lifeline Biennial Audit Plan.
benton.org/node/163075 | Federal Communications Commission
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JOURNALISM

TECH IDEAS HEADING TO NEWS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: David Carr]
[Commentary] Producing serious news is an expensive enterprise with a beleaguered business model, one that remains tied to the tracks as a locomotive of splintered audiences and declining advertising hurtles toward it. But just when it looked as if all were lost, an unlikely cavalry has come roaring over the hill with serious money, fresh ideas and no small amount of enthusiasm. Silicon Valley and its various power brokers — some who had roles in putting the news business in harm’s way to begin with — are suddenly investing significant sums of money in preserving news capacity and quality. Quality news has become, if not sexy, suddenly attractive to smart digital money. It makes sense once you step back. For all its excesses, Silicon Valley has not been a place where ostentation creates social capital. While any tech reporter will tell you that the valley is far from media-friendly, the people in leadership there are close, ferocious consumers of news and have strong opinions about its current shortcomings. And it would be a mistake to view the recent moves by some of the most important people in technology as a lark.
benton.org/node/163092 | New York Times
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EDUCATION

ANCHOR INSTITUTIONS OR A DIGITAL BRIDGE TO NOWHERE?
[SOURCE: AT&T, AUTHOR: Hank Hultquist]
[Commentary] One of the most important issues that the Federal Communications Commission should examine in considering a proposal to expand its E-rate programs, is the issue of “dark fiber.” Dark fiber refers to fiber optic cable that has not been activated, or “lit,” for use. Some people are saying that the FCC should expand E-rate by expending limited Universal Service Fund (USF) resources on limited-reach networks, i.e., networks that only reach the locations of E-rate customers, and do not provide broadband services to the community at large. But in a world where USF dollars are limited, and any expansion in E-rate could reduce funding available for other universal service objectives, it is critical that the FCC build synergies between its programs. E-rate should not become a digital bridge to nowhere. Proponents of this plan argue that dark fiber could be a more cost-effective way for schools and libraries to afford high speed broadband service. But policymakers must be careful when analyzing this assumption. Fiber in the ground does not a reliable broadband service make. Even if a school is capable of building and operating a high-capacity network with dark fiber, in many cases it would do so at the cost of the community at large. Allowing that to happen would conflict with the national Universal Service Fund imperative to get high speed broadband service to all Americans in all parts of the country. AT&T fully supports the President’s ConnectEd initiative and E-rate 2.0. There is no question that all schools and libraries must be armed with the power of high-speed broadband. But let’s make sure we do not modernize E-rate in a vacuum. Universal Service funding is, and always has been, about ensuring modern telecommunications services are available to all Americans. That’s what E-rate should be about as well.
benton.org/node/163038 | AT&T
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HEALTH

HEALTH IT REGULATORS FACE CHALLENGES AS MEDICAL APPS PROLIFERATE
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: ]
The regulation of health information technology was always bound to unspool slowly, given the involvement of multiple agencies with overlapping jurisdiction and a rapidly changing and important industry. The first piece of finalized health IT regulation, which laid out rules for mobile applications, was released Sept. 23 following two years of debate. The government is required to outline its plans for the rest of the sector by January 2014. Three agencies are charged with regulating the sector: the Food and Drug Administration, which will approve some apps and software and oversee the use of IT in clinical practice; the Federal Communications Commission, which manages wireless spectrum; and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, which oversees electronic medical records. The agencies have indicated they will take a flexible approach to health IT regulation in the hopes of encouraging innovation.
benton.org/node/163060 | National Journal
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THE FCC

THE FCC HAS WORK TO DO, AND TED CRUZ ISN’T HELPING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Fresh off his defeat over the government shutdown, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has blocked President Barack Obama's nominee for the chair of the Federal Communications Commission. At any other time, the delay might be written off as another cost of doing business in today's gridlocked Congress. But having just emerged from a 16-day closure, Washington's has a bunch of catching up to do -- and the FCC is no exception, meaning that the hold on Wheeler is likely to add even more to the backlog. What's at stake is a major government auction to improve the nation's mobile broadband and other wireless networks. It's the first of its kind, making the FCC a battleground for telecom companies, the TV industry and consumer advocates who are all trying to influence the rules behind the auction. All these groups are stuck in a holding pattern until the FCC makes a final decision on how the process will work.
benton.org/node/163069 | Washington Post
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WHO NEEDS THE FCC?
[SOURCE: CommLawBlog, AUTHOR: Mitchell Lazarus]
[Commentary] The recent government shutdown was applauded by some who believe that small government is better, and so, by extension, that no government at all must be better still. That got us to thinking. Not about the whole government, just the piece we know best: the Federal Communications Commission. Suppose the FCC closed for good. Would anybody notice? We think the operation of our culture and commerce depends on at least three of the FCC’s functions: licensing, establishing technical rules, and participating in international treaty negotiations.
benton.org/node/163044 | CommLawBlog
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ADVERTISING

GOOGLE, FACEBOOK CALL AN AD TECH TRUCE: DOUBLECLICK IS COMING TO THE FACEBOOK EXCHANGE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Peter Kafka]
Google and Facebook are the Web’s biggest advertising heavyweights, and fierce rivals. So it wasn’t surprising that when Facebook launched its Facebook Exchange ad-selling platform in 2012, it ended up working with just about everyone in ad tech except for Google. But now that is changing. Google announced that its DoubleClick unit will soon be working with Facebook Exchange, which lets advertisers show ads to Facebook users based on their travels outside of Facebook’s pages. In English: Facebook is going to sell ads to Google’s ad buyers. In the ad tech world, this is a very big deal. DoubleClick is a dominant force, and Facebook Exchange has provided ad buyers with a huge new source of inventory, so putting them together has big advantages for both sides.
benton.org/node/163077 | Wall Street Journal
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

THE EU’S BROADBAND CHALLENGE, PART 5: HOW CABLE BRINGS COMPETITION TO THE EUROPEAN MARKET
[SOURCE: American Enterprise Institute, AUTHOR: Roslyn Layton]
[Commentary] The European Commission and many Europeans look to cable to bring more competition to the broadband marketplace. It comes as little surprise that the EU Commission blessed a deal by Liberty Global to purchase Virgin Media in the UK, making it the world’s largest cable company with 25 million customers in 14 countries. Additionally British Vodafone purchased Kabel Deutschland, making it a serious contender to Deutsche Telekom. Some associate mergers with less competition, but this is a flawed notion. Competition comes not from the number of players, but from different technologies. This is evident in how Netflix, Roku and other OTT providers bring competition to cable today. To be sure, most consumers don’t care how they get their broadband, as long as it fast enough for their needs and a good value. And furthermore, they don’t care whether it’s wired or wireless as long as they can get it when and where they need it. It’s for that reason that MIT economist William Lehr suggested that Verizon and Comcast should merge. Unfortunately for consumers, the world’s broadband technology has moved forward, but cable and telecom regulation is still locked in an old paradigm.
benton.org/node/163042 | American Enterprise Institute
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October 21, 2013 (Tech, telecom policy stuck in neutral)