BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2014
Headlines will return TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
And here’s a sneak peak at next week’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2014-09-07--P1W/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The Facts and Future of Broadband Competition
Washington Responds to FCC’s Wheeler on Broadband Competition [links to web]
The Government Could Build You Faster Internet, But Cable Companies Won't Let It [links to web]
Larry Flynt, Video Games and the Potential Fallout of Net Neutrality [links to web]
IGF highlights how developing countries use zero rating programs to drive Internet adoption - AEI analysis [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
What Are Competitors Saying About Comcast/Time Warner Cable? (Part II) - analysis
Is SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Eyeing Vodafone? [links to web]
CONTENT
Why Twitter’s users are in open revolt [links to web]
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
CPB eyes TV CSG rules in anticipation of spectrum auctions [links to web]
Google says tests prove large exclusion zones are unnecessary in 3.5 GHz band [links to web]
AT&T’s LTE network dome now covers 300 million people [links to web]
Broadcom releases a 650Mbps chip to link smartphones to gigabit Wi-Fi networks [links to web]
Two ex-Google employees want you to start talking on your phone again [links to web]
Why California’s smartphone ‘kill switch’ law should concern journalists - analysis [links to web]
Is SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Eyeing Vodafone? [links to web]
TELEVISION
TV Viewers Getting Older Fast, Analyst Says [links to web]
Analyst: SEC Network May Generate Nearly $1B in Revenue [links to web]
HEALTH
Two questions made easier with an Electronic Health Record - analysis [links to web]
CHILDREN AND MEDIA
Google to Refund Consumers at Least $19 Million to Settle FTC Complaint It Unlawfully Billed Parents for Children’s Unauthorized In-App Charges - FTC press release
PRIVACY/SECURITY
The Potemkinism of Privacy Pragmatism - op-ed
As Promised, Facebook’s Privacy Checkup Has Arrived [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Appeals Court Will Reconsider Ruling on Cellphone Tracking
Why California’s smartphone ‘kill switch’ law should concern journalists - analysis [links to web]
LOBBYING
Internet Association nabs FTC’s Abigail Slater [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
President Obama Names Megan Smith US CTO, Alexander Macgillivray Deputy US CTO - press release [links to web]
Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker Appoints Five New Members to the First Responder Network Authority Board - press release [links to web]
After A 35-Year Run, NPR's Programming Chief Will Retire [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Groups Accuse Apple Supplier of Labor Violations
IGF highlights how developing countries use zero rating programs to drive Internet adoption - AEI analysis [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
THE FACTS AND FUTURE OF BROADBAND COMPETITION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
The growing bandwidth demands of businesses and consumers are changing the competitive broadband landscape. My goal is not to criticize, but to recognize that meaningful competition for high-speed wired broadband is lacking and Americans need more competitive choices for faster and better Internet connections, both to take advantage of today’s new services, and to incentivize the development of tomorrow’s innovations. The underpinning of broadband policy today is that competition is the most effective tool for driving innovation, investment, and consumer and economic benefits. Unfortunately, the reality we face today is that as bandwidth increases, competitive choice decreases. It was the absence of competition that historically forced the imposition of strict government regulation in telecommunications. One of the consequences of such a regulated monopoly was the thwarting of the kind of innovation that competition stimulates. Today, we are buffeted by constant innovation precisely because of the policy decisions to promote competition made by the FCC and Justice Department since the 1970s and 1980s. The path from narrowband, to broadband, to high-speed broadband, was forged by competition. The simple lesson of history is that competition drives deployment and network innovation. That was true yesterday and it will be true tomorrow. Our challenge is to keep that competition alive and growing. What is the FCC prepared to do in the face of this competitive reality? As must be clear by now, incentivizing competition should precede regulation. We must try our best -- companies and communities, incumbents and insurgents -- to foster more competition. The best answer for limited competition is more competition, plain and simple. Here’s an Agenda for Broadband Competition:
Where competition exists, the FCC will protect it
Where greater competition can exist, we will encourage it: The entire Open Internet proceeding is about ensuring that the Internet remains free from barriers erected by last-mile providers.
Where meaningful competition is not available, the FCC will work to create it: Incentivizing competition is a job for governments at every level. Working together, we can implement policies at the federal, state, and local level that serve consumers by facilitating construction and encouraging competition in the broadband marketplace.
Where competition cannot be expected to exist, we must shoulder the responsibility of promoting the deployment of broadband: We cannot allow rural America to be behind the broadband curve. Our universal service efforts are focused on bringing better broadband to rural America by whomever steps up to the challenge -- not the highest speeds all at once, but steadily to prevent the creation of a new digital divide.
benton.org/headlines/facts-and-future-broadband-competition | Federal Communications Commission | Broadband Competition fact sheet | NY Times | Multichannel News | Washington Post | IDG News Service | ars technica | The Hill | Washington Post
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OWNERSHIP
WHAT COMPETITORS ARE SAYING ABOUT COMCAST/TWC?
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] As noted last week, the first round of public comment on Comcast’s proposal to buy Time Warner Cable was due August 25. The $45 billion transaction, announced in February, would combine the nation's top two cable TV companies. Comcast and Time Warner argue that the combination will create a world-class communications, media, and technology company significantly better positioned than either company alone to bring consumers the advanced services they want now and will need in the future and to keep America at the forefront of technology and innovation. The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing the transaction to determine if it is in the public interest. Here’s a look at what Comcast's and Time Warner's competitors are saying.
http://benton.org/node/201581
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CHILDREN AND MEDIA
GOOGLE AND FTC
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Google has agreed to settle a Federal Trade Commission complaint alleging that it unfairly billed consumers for millions of dollars in unauthorized charges incurred by children using mobile apps downloaded from the Google Play app store for use on Android mobile devices. Under the terms of the settlement, Google will provide full refunds -- with a minimum payment of $19 million -- to consumers who were charged for kids’ purchases without authorization of the account holder. Google has also agreed to modify its billing practices to ensure that it obtains express, informed consent from consumers before charging them for items sold in mobile apps. The Commission’s complaint against Google alleges that since 2011, Google violated the FTC Act’s prohibition on “unfair” commercial practices by billing consumers for charges by children made within kids’ apps downloaded from the Google Play store. Many consumers reported hundreds of dollars of such unauthorized charges, according to the complaint. According to the complaint, in mid- to late 2012, Google began presenting a pop-up box that asked for the account holder’s password before billing in-app charges. The new pop-up, however, did not contain any information about the charge. Google also did not inform consumers that entering the password opened up a 30-minute window in which a password was no longer required, allowing children to rack up unlimited charges during that time.
benton.org/headlines/google-refund-consumers-least-19-million-settle-ftc-complaint-it-unlawfully-billed-parents | Federal Trade Commission | Washington Post | The Hill
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PRIVACY/SECURITY
POTEMKINISM OF PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Chris Jay Hoofnagle]
[Commentary] A revolution is afoot in privacy regulation. In an assortment of white papers and articles, business leaders—including Microsoft—and scholars argue that instead of regulating privacy through limiting the collection of data, we should focus on how the information is used. It’s called “use regulation,” and this seemingly obscure issue has tremendous implications for civil liberties and our society. Ultimately, it can help determine how much power companies and governments have. But the newfound support of privacy regulation among big businesses masks a radically deregulatory agenda. A regime that only pays attention to use erects a Potemkin Village of privacy. From a distance, it looks sound. But living within it we will find no shelter from the sun or rain.
[Chris Jay Hoofnagle teaches computer crime law and privacy law at UC–Berkeley]
benton.org/headlines/potemkinism-privacy-pragmatism | Slate
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
CELLPHONE TRACKING CASE TO BE REHEARD
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Joe Palazzolo]
The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, will reconsider, with a full roster of judges participating, an earlier ruling in which a three-judge panel held that police need a warrant to obtain records from cellphone companies that show where a suspect has been. In June, the appeals court ruled that the government violated the privacy rights of Quartavius Davis, who was convicted of robbing seven stores in 2010 and sentenced to roughly 162 years in prison. It was the first time a federal appeals court mandated a warrant for cellphone location records, which are increasingly subject to government requests. In deciding to rehear the case, the 11th Circuit vacated the June ruling.
benton.org/headlines/appeals-court-will-reconsider-ruling-cellphone-tracking | Wall Street Journal
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
APPLE LABOR VIOLATIONS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Neil Gough, Brian Chen]
Apple is facing fresh accusations of violations of labor rights and workplace safety at a supplier in China. The allegations involve employees at a factory in the eastern China city of Suqian that is owned by Catcher Technology, a Taiwan company, and that makes metal casings for Apple iPads and for other consumer electronics companies. The employees are made to work excessive overtime and handle toxic chemicals without proper protective clothing, according to a report released by Green America, an environmental nonprofit group, and China Labor Watch, a workers’ rights group based in New York. Apple said its most recent annual audit of the Suqian plant, in May, had “found some concrete areas for improvement in Catcher’s operations, and we worked with Catcher to develop a corrective action plan.”
benton.org/headlines/groups-accuse-apple-supplier-labor-violations | New York Times | Washington Post
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