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BENTON’S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Examining the Proposed FCC Privacy Rules
NCTA, American Cable Association Join Senate Letter on Broadband Privacy Proposal
Former FTC Chair Has Issues With FCC’s Opt-In Broadband Privacy Regime [links to Benton summary]
Protect Internet Freedom Seeks FCC Answer on Missing Broadband Privacy Comments [links to Benton summary]
PK Joins Letter Defending Broadband Privacy to Senate Judiciary Subcommittee [links to Public Knowledge]
American Cable Association President Pans Charter-TWC Overbuild Condition
AT&T Adds More GigaPower [links to Benton summary]
Fiber Optic Network in Rancho Santa Fe (CA), Could be Fastest in US [links to Benton summary]
TELECOM
Criminal Charges
Frontier complaints get Florida state officials’ attention[links to Benton summary]
CONTENT
You probably haven’t even noticed Google’s sketchy quest to control the world’s knowledge [links to Washington Post]
Angry about Facebook censorship? Wait until you hear about the news feed [links to Guardian, The]
Facebook has been actively courting conservatives, but that won’t stop it from getting spanked [links to Revere Digital]
Here’s the real story about Facebook’s influence on which stories you see [links to Revere Digital]
Facebook wants you to think it’s just a platform. It’s not. [links to Columbia Journalism Review]
Conservatives question Congress’s role in Facebook probe [links to Benton summary]
Facebook and Fear [links to Benton summary]
Facebook’s Bias Is Built-In, and Bears Watching[links to New York Times]
Democratic Reps rips daily fantasy sports operators during hearing [links to Hill, The]
ELECTIONS & MEDIA
With Billions About To Be Spent In Political Ads, Media Coverage Is Crucial In Keeping Them Honest – Media Matters analysis [links to Benton summary]
Trump on Facebook allegations: ‘It’s terrible’ [links to Hill, The]
FBI head challenges Clinton’s description of e-mail probe [links to Hill, The]
Sanders Campaign Wields Social Media to Great Advantage [links to Government Technology]
SECURITY/PRIVACY
DHS Under the Gun to Collect Data ABout Threats to Infrastrucure, Networks [links to Benton summary]
Hackers Attempt to Hold Capitol Hill Data for Ransom[links to Benton summary]
The Second Amendment Case for the Right to Bear Crypto [links to Benton summary]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Pentagon chief overhauls Silicon Valley office, will open similar unit in Boston [links to Benton summary]
Continuing Financial Challenges and the Need for Postal Reform [links to Government Accountability Office]
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
First Responders: We Can’t Wait for FirstNet [links to nextgov]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Agenda for Workshop on Participating in Reverse Auction – public notice [links to Benton summary]
NAB: FCC’s 126 MHz Target Was ‘Appropriately Aggressive’ [links to Broadcasting&Cable]
Google and Comcast may be following Republic Wireless into the world of Wi-Fi-first phones [links to Revere Digital]
The biggest question for the Internet of Things: Who pays? [links to Benton summary]
TELEVISION
Remarks of Commissioner O’Rielly, Annual Broadcast Television Conference of the Advanced Television Systems Committee – speech [links to Benton summary]
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Opposes FCC Set-Top Plan [links to Multichannel News]
ADVERTISING
Google tells payday lenders to take their advertising business elsewhere [links to Los Angeles Times]
Dan Schechter: Why Broadcast TV Advertising Is in Trouble [links to Wrap, The]
POLICYMAKERS
Howell, Wall Elected to NAB TV Board [links to National Association of Broadcasters press release]
HEALTH
Telemedicine use increases among rural Medicare beneficiaries – research [links to Benton summary]
EDUCATION
Students who use digital devices in class ‘perform worse in exams’ [links to Benton summary]
Bill Gates: Ed Tech Has Underachieved, But Better Days Are Ahead [links to Education Week]
CHILDREN & MEDIA
Worrying over kids playing with phones and tablets is just another way to shame mothers [links to Vox]
COMPANY NEWS
Univision Launches L.A. Production Company [links to Multichannel News]
Google is expanding its global accelerator, yet another of its startup funding programs [links to Revere Digital]
Apple says it isn’t going to stop selling music downloads [links to Revere Digital]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
World Economic Forum looks to tech for African growth [links to American Public Media]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
EXAMINING THE PROPOSED FCC PRIVACY RULES
[SOURCE: Senate Judiciary Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law held a hearing, "Examining the Proposed Federal Communications Commission Privacy Rules". At the hearing, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told Sens that his broadband privacy proposal was an effort to extend traditional network privacy protections to the Internet and not a grab of new authority. Chairman Wheeler was one of four witnesses on what Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Flake, (R-AZ) called the "perfect" panel. The others were Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, and exiting FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen. Most of the questioning came from Chairman Flake and Ranking Member Al Franken (D-MN). Chairman Flake pointed out the FCC had created the privacy vacuum with its Title II reclassification—the FTC used to have authority over Internet service providers—and was filling it with static rules for a dynamic ecosystem. By comparison, Ranking Member Franken waxed rhapsodic about the Open Internet order, calling it one of the highlights of his political life. Ranking Member Franken suggested that both the edge and ISPs needed watching on the privacy front but conceded he thought the FCC needed to specifically address broadband privacy with rules. Ranking Member Franken detoured into a sharp criticism of Commissioner Pai for suggesting that Chairman Wheeler had once said the FCC could not prevent paid prioritization. Chairman Wheeler countered that the FCC had prohibited paid prioritization in the Open Internet order. Sen Orrin Hatch (R-UT) made an early exit but before doing so said he had problems with the proposal, as well as with the FCC’s Charter/Time Warner Cable conditions. He said he shared Commissioner Pai’s criticism that they were not deal-specific and were a form of tribute from the companies to earn the FCC’s approval.
benton.org/headlines/examining-proposed-fcc-privacy-rules | Senate Judiciary Committee | Wheeler Statement| Pai Testimony | FTC press release | B&C
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NCTA, ACA JOIN SENATE LETTER ON BROADBAND PRIVACY PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The heads of the major Internet service provider/cable/telecommunication company trade associations have told Congress the Federal Communications Commission needs to back off new opt-in-centric rules on broadband customer proprietary network information (CPNI), and instead adopt an Federal Trade Commission-like approach to privacy. That came in a letter to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is holding a hearing May 11 on the new FCC privacy framework, from the heads of the American Cable Association, National Cable & Telecommunications Association, CTIA, USTelecom and the Internet Commerce Coalition. It was a busy day in the letter-writing department as advertising trade groups registered similar concerns to the senators. The FTC does not have privacy rules, but instead enforced broadband privacy through enforcement actions–filing court suits or settling complaints–using its authority to go after false or deceptive advertising if companies strayed from promises made in privacy policies. But the FTC’s authority to regulate broadband privacy went away when the FCC reclassified Internet access as a Title II service beyond the reach of the FTC. The associations advised Congress that there was nothing in the Title II reclassification that warrants departure from that FTC approach based on effective notice by ISPs to consumers and meaningful choice over their data–but not a mandatory opt-in regime. They are not happy with the FCC proposal to make opt-in the default for sharing most consumer information with third parties for targeted marketing purposes, meaning they would have to affirmatively agree to it.
benton.org/headlines/ncta-american-cable-association-join-senate-letter-broadband-privacy-proposal |Multichannel News | B&C
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ACA PRESIDENT PANS CHARTER-TWC OVERBUILD CONDITION
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The American Cable Association is not happy with the Federal Communications Commission’s overbuild condition in the Charter/Time Warner Cable merger, which means some of its members could face competition from the newly enlarged company. The FCC included a condition on building out to an additional 2 million residential homes. Though it prefaced that by citing a Charter pledge to build out to "unserved areas, it is requiring Charter to go further and build out at least a million of those in areas where at least one other broadband Internet access service (BIAS) is providing at least 25 Mbps downstream advertised service. Broadband competition is one of the FCC’s prime directives under FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Some deal watchers saw that as a condition targeted to generating competition between Charter/TWC, now the number two BIAS provider with number one provider, Comcast, but ACA sees its members as likely objects of the overbuild. “Such harm to smaller providers and their customers is very likely because new Charter, using its significant scale advantages made possible by the FCC’s approval, will have an economic incentive to choose locations served by smaller providers because Charter can most easily drive them out of the market, leaving Charter as the only provider," ACA President Matt Polka said after the FCC released the order detailing the deal conditions. "The condition lacks limitations on the locations that count toward meeting the obligation, such as those that are most in need of competition or served by other large Internet Service Providers." Polka says the condition will harm consumers by preventing Charter from investing where it is most efficient, upgrading current networks to higher speeds, for example.
benton.org/headlines/american-cable-association-president-pans-charter-twc-overbuild-condition |Multichannel News | ars technica
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TELECOM
CRIMINAL CHARGES
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Colin Lecher]
Although the myth of the "one phone call" has long held a place in the American imagination, the reality of communicating with family during a long-term prison stay hardly makes for the stuff of movies. To prisoners and their relations, calls are a vital connection to home. For facility operators, they’ve long been considered security holes, a means for inmates to coordinate crimes with the outside. And for inmate phone companies, along with state and local governments, the system is a lucrative business opportunity. For decades, critics called for greater regulation of the companies, arguing that inmates and their families had effectively been priced out of staying in touch. Today, some of those regulations have been put in place, but a recent legal challenge may once again roll them back. In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission voted to further expand the rate caps for local and long-distance calls: 11 cents for prisons and at higher, tiered prices for jails, based on inmate population. The capped rates have been put on hold. After the FCC adopted its 2015 rate limits, phone companies and some states sued, asking a court to halt the rules until the suit made its way through court. They succeeded on two points, partially blocking the FCC’s new rules, and then halting an attempt to apply the 2013 caps to more calls. "Am I overjoyed at this point?" FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn says. "I can’t say that I am. But what we will do is defend this in court." How long that might take isn’t clear.
