September 26, 2013 (Who’s Not Online and Why)

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

COMPREHENSIVE SURVEILLANCE REFORM
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Four Senators who had been working separately to reform US surveillance programs announced that they are introducing a comprehensive reform bill. The reform package is “the most comprehensive, bipartisan intelligence reform proposal since the disclosures” earlier this year, Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) said of the reform package being introduced by himself and Sens. Mark Udall (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rand Paul (R-KY). The bill will combine elements of legislation that had been pushed by the four lawmakers. It would ban the bulk collections of electronic communications and telephone data, require the intelligence community to get a search warrant before searching for the communications of innocent Americans, reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to include a constitutional advocate, allow people to challenge the constitutionality of surveillance programs in open court and bring more transparency to the surveillance programs. By introducing the bill, the senators are hoping to shape the debate. As the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees are slated to examine surveillance programs, “we’re launching the debate with an actual bill” to set the bar high on surveillance reform, Sen Wyden said.
benton.org/node/160986 | Hill, The
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NSA CHIEF PLEADS FOR PUBLIC SUPPORT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Brendan Sasso]
Gen. Keith Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency, called on the public to help defend his agency's powers as Congress mulls restrictions aimed at protecting privacy. "We need your help. We need to get these facts out," Alexander said during a cybersecurity summit at the National Press Club. "We need our nation to understand why we need these tools." He warned that if Congress hampers the NSA's ability to gather information, it could allow for terrorist attacks in the United States similar to last week's massacre in a mall in Nairobi, Kenya. "If you take those [surveillance powers] away, think about the last week and what will happen in the future," he said. "If you think it's bad now, wait until you get some of those things that happened in Nairobi."
benton.org/node/160956 | Hill, The
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‘SENSATIONALIZED’ NSA REPORTING?
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Tony Romm]
The leader of the embattled National Security Agency doubled down against calls from Capitol Hill to restrict US government surveillance programs — a campaign he attributed to “sensationalized” reporting and “media leaks.” On the same day that key Senate lawmakers pledged to bring new oversight to the NSA, Gen. Keith Alexander mounted a public defense of his agency: He stressed the intelligence community isn’t “listening to Americans’ phone calls and reading their e-mails,” and he urged technology and government leaders to help “get the facts out” and “get our nation to understand why we need these tools” in the wake of Edward Snowden’s disclosures. Alexander also commended companies for cooperating with the federal government, and he made a plea for more power — particularly to thwart terrorists who have elevated their activities to cyberspace. “Over 950 people were killed in Kenya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan,” Alexander said at the Billington CyberSecurity Summit, referencing recent violence in the region, “and we’re discussing more esoteric things here. Why? Because we’ve stopped the terrorist attacks here.” “We’ve been fortunate, and it’s not been luck,” the general continued. “It’s our military that’s out [front], and it’s our intelligence community back here. They can’t do it without tools. So we’re going to have a debate in this country: Do we give up those tools? I’m concerned we’ll make the wrong decision.”
benton.org/node/160955 | Politico
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SCALIA PREDICTS NSA SURVEILLANCE WILL BE DECIDED BY SUPREME COURT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Jeremy Herb]
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that he expects the Supreme Court will eventually decide the legality of National Security Agency surveillance programs. Justice Scalia, however, said that he didn’t think it should be the Supreme Court determining what the NSA can and can’t do. Justice Scalia weighed in on NSA wiretaps in a speech at the Northern Virginia Technology Council, where he was asked about technology companies’ role in protecting users’ privacy. "The consequence of that is that whether the NSA can do the stuff it’s been doing...which used to be a question for the people... will now be resolved by the branch of government that knows the least about the issues in question, the branch that knows the least about the extent of the threat against which the wiretapping is directed," Justice Scalia said.
benton.org/node/160971 | Hill, The
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CUTTING THE CORD: BRAZIL’S BOLD PLAN TO COMBAT THE NSA
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Amar Toor]
Revelations about the American government’s ongoing electronic surveillance have sent shockwaves across the globe, but few countries have reacted as boldly as Brazil, where lawmakers are currently considering a plan to cut ties — quite literally — with the US. Previously, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff announced plans to create an undersea fiber-optic cable that would funnel Internet traffic between South America and Europe, bypassing the US entirely. Rousseff also urged legislators to pass an amendment that would force Google, Microsoft, and other US web companies to store data for Brazilian users on servers located within Brazil, while the country's postal service has already begun developing an encrypted domestic email system. Rousseff's proposals rest upon the premise that by routing web traffic away from American soil and keeping data within Brazil, the Brazilian government could more easily control and secure citizens' online information. But experts say the plans would do little to stop the NSA from spying on Brazilian communications, and some worry that they could lead to a more fractured Internet.
benton.org/node/160958 | Verge, The
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MEET THE MACHINES THAT STEAL YOUR PHONE’S DATA
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Ryan Gallagher]
The National Security Agency’s spying tactics are being intensely scrutinized following the recent leaks of secret documents. However, the NSA isn't the only US government agency using controversial surveillance methods. Monitoring citizens' cell phones without their knowledge is a booming business. From Arizona to California, Florida to Texas, state and federal authorities have been quietly investing millions of dollars acquiring clandestine mobile phone surveillance equipment in the past decade. Earlier in 2013, a covert tool called the “Stingray” that can gather data from hundreds of phones over targeted areas attracted international attention. Rights groups alleged that its use could be unlawful; and in any case, use of these devices are a legal grey area under the federal Communications Act because they interfere with communications signals. But the same company that exclusively manufacturers the Stingray—Florida-based Harris Corporation—has for years been selling government agencies an entire range of secretive mobile phone surveillance technologies from a catalogue that it conceals from the public on national security grounds.
benton.org/node/160968 | Ars Technica
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CYBERSECURITY

US OFFICIALS WOO TECH COMPANIES IN NEW PUSH FOR CYBERSECURITY LAW
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Joseph Menn]
Senior US officials sought to mend fences with the technology industry as they renewed their pleas for legislation to increase the flow of information about cyberattacks between federal agencies and private companies. A plan to protect companies from privacy lawsuits if they turn over data on electronic intrusions was a central feature of the administrations cybersecurity agenda in 2012, but legislation containing it failed to pass and it has not gained momentum during this Congressional session. The previous bill brought opposition from privacy advocates who feared too much data would end up in the hands of the National Security Agency, which is aligned the with military and generally charged with spying overseas. Those arguments resonate more now that documents leaked by Edward Snowden showed that the NSA collects domestic calling records and that big Internet companies provide information on thousands of overseas customers. "If we thought that information-sharing was moving slowly before, now it's moving even more slowly," a senior administration official said in an interview granted on condition of anonymity. The White House task would be easier with technology companies' support, but some are reluctant to endorse anything that would exacerbate the negative publicity from Snowden's documents. NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander said the White House wants security legislation that would minimize data on Americans and limit what the NSA could do with that data. In the meantime, federal agencies are working to share more information with each other more rapidly and automatically where feasible, and officials are expanding a program to use secret data about emerging threats to protect private companies that are critical to the country's economic health.
benton.org/node/160974 | Reuters
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

FCC SEEKS COMMENTS ON TECHNICAL DETAILS OF NATIONWIDE EAS TEST - PREPARING FOR THE NEXT TEST?
[SOURCE: Broadcast Law Blog, AUTHOR: David Oxenford]
In 2011, the Federal Communications Commission conducted the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). While the system was originally created to convey Presidential alerts to the nation, it has never been used for that purpose and, until the nationwide test, it had never even been tested. Instead, EAS has most commonly been used for local emergencies like weather alerts and, in recent years, Amber Alerts for missing or abducted children. In its recent Public Notice, the FCC asked for comments on a number of issues uncovered during the nationwide test. The issues on which comments are sought are principally technical issues of system design, such as whether the time codes in the EAS headers work the same on all EAS hardware, or whether these codes resulted in tests running at different times on different stations. Apparently, some stations immediately broadcast the alert when received, and others delayed it until the time specified in the codes indicated that it should be run. The FCC wonders if the hardware and software systems can be reprogrammed to accommodate new codes for a nationwide emergency alert and at what cost. Would the benefits of such new codes outweigh these costs? Comments on this proceeding are due on October 23, and reply comments on November 7.
benton.org/node/160966 | Broadcast Law Blog
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

WHO’S NOT ONLINE AND WHY
[SOURCE: Pew Internet and American Life Project, AUTHOR: Kathryn Zickuhr]
A new report from the Pew Research Center finds that as of May 2013, 15% of American adults ages 18 and older do not use the Internet or e-mail. Asked why they do not use the Internet:
34% of non-Internet users think the Internet is just not relevant to them, saying they are not interested, do not want to use it, or have no need for it.
32% of non-Internet users cite reasons tied to their sense that the Internet is not very easy to use. These non-users say it is difficult or frustrating to go online, they are physically unable, or they are worried about other issues such as spam, spyware, and hackers.
19% of non-Internet users cite the expense of owning a computer or paying for an Internet connection.
7% of non-users cited a physical lack of availability or access to the Internet.
Even among the 85% of adults who do go online, experiences connecting to the Internet may vary widely. For instance, even though 76% of adults use the Internet at home, 9% of adults use the Internet but lack home access. These Internet users cite many reasons for not having Internet connections at home, most often relating to issues of affordability—some 44% mention financial issues such as not having a computer, or having a cheaper option outside the home. As in previous surveys, Internet use remains strongly correlated with age, educational attainment, and household income. One of the strongest patterns in the data on Internet use is by age group: 44% of Americans ages 65 and older do not use the Internet, and these older Americans make up almost half (49%) of non-Internet users overall. Yet while they themselves do not go online, these self-described non-Internet users often report that the Internet often touches their lives in different ways:
44% of offline adults have asked a friend or family member to look something up or complete a task on the Internet for them.
23% of offline adults live in a household where someone else uses the Internet at home, a proportion that has remained relatively steady for over a decade.
14% of offline adults say that they once used to use the Internet, but have since stopped for some reason.
benton.org/node/160944 | Pew Internet and American Life Project
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MOBILE BROADBAND
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Pfanner]
Why are smartphone makers paying so much attention to developing countries? That is where the growth, and the potential for more of it, is concentrated. A new report from the United Nations Broadband Commission demonstrates this in considerable detail. By the end of this year, the report says, the number of mobile broadband connections worldwide will rise to 2.1 billion, nearly three times the total of fixed-line subscriptions. That may be just a start. Strikingly, some developing countries like Oman and Kazakhstan ranked ahead of wealthy nations like Switzerland and Germany in mobile broadband penetration. The mobile Internet has enabled some developing countries to leapfrog ahead, letting telecommunications companies and consumers skip over fixed-line broadband. The gains are uneven, though. In much of Africa and parts of Latin America, mobile broadband penetration is still in the single digits per 100 inhabitants. The goals of the UN Broadband Commission include closing the digital divide.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/developing-countries-surge-in-m...
The State of Broadband 2013 (see the report)
benton.org/node/160985 | New York Times | see the report
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EAGLE-NET DEFENDS ITS BROADBAND LIFE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a two-hour plus presentation to the Colorado General Assembly's Legislative Audit Committee, intergovernmental agency EAGLE-Net alliance (ENA) defended its build-out of a broadband network to schools, libraries and other anchor institutions. It has a $100 million government Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program (BTOP) grant it is using, but has run into delays and problems. ENA representatives at the hearing said that they were about ready to strike a deal with an independent telecom to operate the network, saying it should be done by the end of October -- they would not identify the company when pressed by a member of the committee.
benton.org/node/160967 | Broadcasting&Cable
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C SPIRE ANNOUNCES COMPETITION TO DELIVER GIGABIT SERVICE TO A MISSISSIPPI COMMUNITY
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Regional mobile operator C Spire has announced a Google-like plan to deliver fiber-to-the-home to a community in its Mississippi service area. The company, which serves predominantly rural customers in the Southeast, will branch into the wireline business with its gigabit network plans — and it will do so in a way similar to Google, when it launched a competition in 2010 to bring fiber to a city in the US. Given that the larger telecommunication companies have largely given up on serving rural customers, and that the digital divide created by their apparent disinterest could put the economic hurt on those towns, this might be a savvy business move if C Spire can ensure a rapid take rate by potential subscribers and a build-out that keeps costs down. So far, Google has built out its network in most areas of Kansas City, but it’s a trend to watch as this competition-based deployment of gigabit networks continues. As for C Spire, it says it hopes to offer the service at a “competitive price” to both consumers and businesses.
benton.org/node/160949 | GigaOm
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

AT&T EUROPEAN EXPANSION
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Amy Thomson]
AT&T, which is considering an expansion across the Atlantic, faces the same realities that undermined European deals a decade ago: Doing business in the region is costly, complicated and highly regulated. Phone companies have tried and failed to reap benefits from global networks, said Craig Moffett, founder of researcher MoffettNathanson LLC. In Europe, AT&T would have to contend with a fragmented, price-sensitive market, with a patchwork of governments hampering efforts to create a regional network. “There simply aren’t sufficient economic benefits to global scale,” said Moffett. “Anyone who has tried it has learned the hard way that the economic benefits never materialize.” AT&T wants to take its experience building out a fourth-generation U.S. network and apply it to Europe, where the adoption of speedier services promises to bring a surge of data use, said people familiar with the company’s thinking, who asked not to be identified because the plans are confidential.
benton.org/node/160976 | Bloomberg
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VERIZON WANTS YOU TO REPLACE YOUR LANDLINE PHONE WITH AN LTE-POWERED BOX
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Jacob Kastrenakes]
Verizon's taking another step toward doing away with landlines. It's already begun replacing landlines with routers connected by its wireless network as a way to quickly restore service after a storm, but those routers hadn't been made widely available. Now however, Verizon is beginning to sell one online, allowing anyone to connect their entire home Internet and voice services to their wireless plan. Verizon's descriptively named 4G LTE Broadband Router with Voice includes both voice and data service to the home, but the company sees it as much more than that: because it uses a wireless network — and therefore isn't tied down to a specific location — Verizon suggests that it could be toted around to hotels, vacation spots, and the office as needed so that travelers can always have high-speed Internet and their home phone number with them. But the router's broader debut isn't simply a matter of giving consumers more options. Telecommunications providers would be more than happy to rid themselves of costly copper telephone lines, and the more people that Verizon can get to switch over to new wireless technologies, the better for them.
benton.org/node/160943 | Verge, The
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NEWS FROM THE FCC

ACTING CHAIRWOMAN MIGNON CLYBURN
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Brooks Boliek]
Mignon Clyburn, the first woman to head the Federal Communications Commission and the first black woman to serve on the panel, is determined to make her time in the top spot count. Since the departure of Chairman Julius Genachowski in May, Chairwoman Clyburn has pushed through rules to lower the cost of prison phone calls, engineered a deal that allows the wireless gadgets used by smaller carriers to operate on the larger carriers’ networks in a critical set of frequencies, set an auction for a valuable slice of the airwaves and approved a major merger. “We made a commitment not only to keep the trains moving but ensuring that we complete the tasks and the missions the American public expect of us,” she said. “You know, especially in August, it’s usually a sleepy time in D.C. — but we did not have that luxury.” The job of an acting chair can be a balancing act with certain unwritten rules, said former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who took on the role of acting chairman in 2009. “There are constraints,” Copps said. “You know you’re not setting long-term policy, but you can set stuff in motion.” That doesn’t mean the job is inconsequential. “You don’t run out of things to do, and the commission is responsive to you,” Copps said. “They don’t say, ‘To hell with you; you’re only going to be a chairman for little bit.’” Chairwoman Clyburn said she knows the rules — but also that she believes government officials need to speak for the voiceless whether it is lowering the cost for prison phone calls, making it possible for small wireless operators to get fancy new gadgets or ensuring that phone calls reach rural customers.
benton.org/node/160981 | Politico
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FCC VOTES COMCAST/BLOOMBERG COMPLAINT APPEAL
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission has made the call on the appeal of both Comcast and Bloomberg's challenge to a Media Bureau decision upholding Bloomberg's news neighborhooding complaint -- but it is not saying what that decision is yet. The FCC had scheduled the item for a vote, but instead it was voted on circulation. Since it was a restricted proceeding, FCC staffers can’t talk about it until the order is released, and even after that can only refer to the order, according to one staffer, until any petitions to reconsider the full commission decision, or any legal challenges, are resolved. Comcast wanted the FCC commissioners to overturn the finding that it had not complied with the NBCUniversal deal condition requiring it to put competing news nets adjacent to "neighborhoods" containing its co-owned news nets and others. Bloomberg wanted clarification that Comcast, to fix the problem, had to "neighborhood both standard-definition and high-definition channels.” Comcast disagrees that its news groupings in channel lineups meet the FCC definition of a neighborhood, and that in any event, those groups predated the deal condition and were "not based on any discriminatory motive to advantage CNBC or MSNBC or disadvantage Bloomberg." The FCC was not expected to overturn the finding against Comcast, but it is not clear whether it has interpreted the condition as applying just to HD nets, or to the standard-definition channels in systems with only one news neighborhood and no available adjacent channels.
benton.org/node/160964 | Multichannel News
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UHF DISCOUNT
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Joe Flint]
The Federal Communications Commission is expected to propose eliminating a key component of its television ownership rules that could have significant implications for broadcasters. Under review is the value the FCC puts on a UHF signal compared to a VHF signal when determining whether a broadcaster is in compliance with the regulatory agency's television station ownership rules. Currently, FCC rules prohibit a broadcaster from owning television stations that reach more than 39% of the United States. However, in determining reach, a UHF signal -- which is allocated to channels higher than 13 -- is valued at 50% of a VHF signal. For example, a VHF signal in Los Angeles counts as 4.92% toward the national cap while a UHF signal counts for just 2.46%. If the FCC does eliminate the UHF discount, it would probably slow the fast rate of consolidation in the television industry. Without the discount, some broadcasters would already be over the FCC's caps and others pushing up against it and would probably be unable to buy more TV stations without exceeding the limit.
benton.org/node/160982 | Los Angeles Times
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UHF ITEM STILL 'IN FLUX' AT FCC
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Edits and proposals continued to circulate around the Federal Communication Commission's eighth floor (where the commissioners reside) over the issue of when the UHF TV station discount would no longer be in effect, according to FCC sources. However, industry sources were saying Sept 26 would likely be the effective trigger date. The process was described as still in flux by all those sources. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, if it is voted at the FCC's public meeting on Sept 26 as planned, is expected to exempt deals currently submitted to the FCC -- most notably Tribune/Local TV, which would be affected by the change. But it is unclear whether the trigger will be Sept 26 or when the order is finally voted, which would take at least a couple of months. That issue was said to be the source of the "flux." The FCC is almost certain to vote to eliminate the discount, which counts only 50% of a UHF station toward the FCC's 39% cap on one broadcast group owner's national audience reach.
benton.org/node/160962 | Multichannel News
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OWNERSHIP

BELO SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE DEAL WITH GANNETT
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: ]
Belo shareholders voted in a special meeting to approve a deal for Gannett to acquire Belo for $13.75 a share - or about $1.5 billion in cash - and assume $715 million of Belo's debt. The deal needed a two-thirds majority of the votes to be approved. Once completed, Gannett's TV station portfolio will jump from 23 to 43. The company, which owns USA TODAY, will become the fourth-largest owner of network TV affiliates in households reached, behind CBS, Fox Broadcasting and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
benton.org/node/160961 | USAToday
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SINCLAIR-NEW AGE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Michael Malone]
Sinclair Broadcast Group has agreed to acquire the New Age station group for $90 million. The eight stations include WOLF-WQMY-WSWB Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, WTLH-WTLF Tallahassee, and WGFL-WNBW-WMYG Gainesville. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. To comply with Federal Communications Commission ownership rules, Sinclair expects to sell the license and certain related assets of WSWB Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, WTLH Tallahassee and WNBW Gainesville to Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation, and WTLF to Deerfield Media, which Sinclair also has an operating relationship with. Sinclair will continue to provide sales and other non-programming support services to these stations, as well as to WTLH, pursuant to shared services and joint sales agreements.
benton.org/node/160983 | Broadcasting&Cable
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TELEVISION

WHY THE TV INDUSTRY WON’T GO THE WAY OF NEWSPAPERS AND THE MUSIC BUSINESS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jeff John Roberts]
Digital forces blew billions of dollars away from the music and print advertising industries, and many predict the TV business is in for the same fate. Terry Kawaja, a well-known media and advertising consultant, isn’t among them. Kawaja described terms like cord-cutting and “a la carte” channels as “interesting flash words” that don’t reflect how the TV industry actually works. He argued that the players in the TV industry, including the new digital entrants, are intertwined and interdependent — which means the business will be sheltered from the disintermediation and economic battering that befell newspapers and the music industry. Kawaja pointed out that over-the-top tools like Roku or Apple TV are indeed taking over the living room; however, traditional TV companies are also making their presence felt in the new world of mobile devices through services like TV Everywhere. Kawaja also downplayed so-called “cord-cutters” and “cord-nevers,” who include a generation of college kids for whom buying a cable subscription makes about as much sense as purchasing a Betamax. He acknowledged that the overall number of pay-TV subscribers is declining for the first time ever, but predicts that the drop will only amount to 1 or 2 million a year — not enough to change the game.
benton.org/node/160947 | GigaOm
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A WAR WHERE NO ONE’S WINNING
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Mike Farrell]
[Commentary] Sifting through the rhetoric on both sides of the retransmission consent issue isn’t an easy task, but recently, it has seemed as if the tide and the tone are beginning to shift. Retransmission negotiations are rarely cordial, but in the past there seemed to be a few lines that both sides informally agreed not to cross. Those lines are becoming increasingly blurred. In almost every case, it seems like each succeeding retransmission fight lowers the bar another inch. In the end, what comes of the continuous volley of insults and accusations from both sides? Pretty much nothing. Time Warner Cable, according to analysts, will probably end up paying $1.90 per month per subscriber for CBS, pretty close to the $2 fee the broadcaster was reportedly demanding. TWC did get a solid month to state its case for retransmission regulatory reform in the top media markets, but anyone who believes Congress — which has yet to deal with more pressing issues on the economy and international relations — will drop everything to address this problem is deluding themselves. Maybe what this industry needs to do is sit down in a dark room with broadcasters, away from the press and the bright lights and all the hoopla, and really discuss what needs to happen. Maybe it’s a la carte, as some distributors have suggested, or unbundling networks, or simply agreeing to accept a low double-digit rate increase, or something else no one has thought of yet.
benton.org/node/160950 | Multichannel News
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EDUCATION

E-RATE MODERNIZATION: PROMOTING CONNECTIVITY FOR 21ST CENTURY LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
[SOURCE: New America Foundation, AUTHOR: Lindsey Tepe]
[Commentary] The New America Foundation’s Education Policy Program and Open Technology Institute jointly submitted recommendations to the Federal Communications Commission outlining ways to modernize the Commission’s E-rate program. Our recommendations underscore a more modern understanding of how connectivity is leveraged by schools, libraries and communities throughout the country. While capacity has been lagging in schools and libraries throughout the country, we increasingly need more of it to meet 21st century demands. Further, we provide several specific recommendations addressing the need for greater program parity. Some of the proposed funding changes put forward by other stakeholders -- such as allocating E-rate dollars to schools on a per-pupil basis -- could actually lead to greater inequity due to the highly variable cost of broadband service across the country. In thinking through alternative funding structures for the program, making sure the funding structure takes into account these variations is crucial. We also caution against tying E-rate funding to specific educational outcomes. Additionally, we urge the FCC to look for ways to promote greater equity in E-rate’s treatment of support for our country’s youngest learners. Currently, the FCC recognizes state definitions of elementary and secondary schooling for funding decisions—unfortunately, in some cases this has led to unequal access to support. [Lindsey Tepe is a program associate in the Education Policy Program at the New America Foundation]
benton.org/node/160959 | New America Foundation
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LA IPADS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Howard Blume]
Another issue in the Los Angeles Unified School District's $1-billion effort to equip every student with an iPad surfaced: Are parents liable if their child breaks or loses the tablet? The question emerged after revelations that 300 or so students at Roosevelt High School skirted security measures on the device and visited unauthorized websites. In response, the district suspended all home use of the Apple tablets, which have gone out to about two dozen schools so far. Ultimately, officials want the iPads used at home — that's considered a key element of their educational value. But their dollar value also became a concern at a meeting of a district committee overseeing technology efforts. Senior district officials acknowledged that they haven't decided on consequences if the $700 iPads are lost or broken.
benton.org/node/160980 | Los Angeles Times
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JOURNALISM

TED CRUZ VS WENDY DAVIS
[SOURCE: Politico, AUTHOR: Dylan Byers]
[Commentary] Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) has spoke on the Senate floor for almost 19 hours. The talk is not technically a filibuster — he can't actually block the Senate from going about its business — but symbolically, it's more or less the same thing. The point is to show one's opposition to something through a demonstration of physical will. Which is why you can forgive conservatives for being upset with the mainstream media's coverage of the Cruz affair. When a Democrat like Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis filibusters against abortion restrictions, she is elevated to hero status, her tennis shoes become totems. When Sen Cruz grandstands against Obamacare, he is a laughingstock in the eyes of many journalists on Twitter, an "embarrassment" in the eyes of The New York Times editorial board. Yes, the difference between filibustering and grandstanding plays a part. Equally important is the fact that Cruz's theatrics are frustrating members of his own party. But, part of the disparity in coverage is due to the fact that the mainstream media, generally speaking, don't admire Sen Cruz the way they admired State Sen Davis — or rather, they admire him only insofar as he makes for tragicomic theater, whereas they admired her on the merits.
benton.org/node/160954 | Politico
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ADVERTISING

NEWS ORGANIZATIONS FACE TRICKY TRADE-OFF WITH 'SPONSORED CONTENT'
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Michael Sebastian]
[Commentary] Publishing used to be a simple -- and very profitable -- business. But with profits shrinking, the industry is getting more creative to attract marketers' dollars. And all anyone seems to want are sponsored posts. Marketers are projected to spend $1.9 billion on sponsored content this year, up 22% from 2012, according to eMarketer. By 2017, it predicts that number will reach $3.1 billion. For marketers, the appeal is simple: Audiences understand that advertisers have a commercial relationship with a publisher. By wrapping ad messages in a format that looks like editorial content—and calling them something else, such as "sponsored" or "partner" content—they hope to trade on the trust and goodwill editorial has built up with the audience. A bit of confusion is inherent in the appeal. It's a tricky trade-off. The line between advertising and editorial is getting really blurry. Guidance could be on the way, though. The Federal Trade Commission said it would hold a workshop on native advertising in December. The agency wants a better understanding of best practices and whether consumers are able to recognize sponsored content as advertising. Until there's a standard for what goes too far, publishers are leaning on their own version of the famous Supreme Court measure for obscenity: "I know it when I see it." Occasional blunders are inevitable since even the best gut instincts have off days -- and the ultimate risk is that such moves result in an outcome that's bad not just for publishers but marketers, too: jaded, distrusting consumers.
benton.org/node/160932 | AdAge
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COMMUNITY MEDIA

SAN JOSE LIBRARIES
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: John Woolfolk]
In Silicon Valley where readers are more apt to download an e-book than pick a paperback off the shelf, voters still overwhelmingly agreed to fund public libraries for another two decades even as some question the centuries-old institution's future in the digital age. On the heels of the Santa Clara County public library system's successful parcel tax renewal, San Jose leaders are now preparing to ask voters to renew theirs as well, anywhere from 10 to 20 years. Critics wonder whether libraries will outlive their new taxes and bonds in a world where paper books are fast giving way to versions you can download to a Kindle or iPad. Jill Bourne, San Jose's new head librarian who was hired earlier this year from San Francisco, isn't worried about libraries' relevance in the digital age. "Libraries are about connecting information to people," Bourne said. "The book is just a technology. At the time it came out it was radical. Before that, it was scrolls, and before then, stone tablets."
benton.org/node/160977 | San Jose Mercury News
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September 26, 2013 (Who’s Not Online and Why)