Headlines

The One Loophole to Rule Them All

Benton Foundation — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 17:06:39 +0000

If FCC Chairman Wheeler’s rule deviates from President Obama’s proposal and doesn’t include these four principles, you should be freaked out.

Municipal Broadband: A Snapshot

Benton Foundation — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 17:05:04 +0000

Those who wish to preempt state laws impacting municipal broadband networks often cite up to 21 states that have limitations or restrictions on such networks. A closer inspection of the specific state laws being criticized, however, offers a much different picture regarding the scope and particulars of the specific state limitations.

Broadband speeds around the world, in one map

Benton Foundation — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 17:03:45 +0000

Internet access is a lot faster in some places than others.

A New Year’s Resolution: Using Broadband to Get Healthy and Stay Well

Benton Foundation — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 17:01:47 +0000

Recent advances in broadband-enabled sensor technology offer the potential for more convenient, and ultimately less-costly and less-invasive health solutions. It’s worth getting familiar with these technologies and talking with your doctor about how digital health tools can help you.

President Obama must finally end NSA phone record collection, says privacy board

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:39:56 +0000

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is calling out President Barack Obama for continuing to collect Americans’ phone data in bulk, a year after it urged an end to the controversial National Security Agency program.

T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon Win Spectrum in FCC Auction That Raised $41.3 Billion

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:39:02 +0000

The Federal Communications Commission revealed the list of winning bidders in its spectrum auction, with AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile among the 31 bidders that paid more than $41.3 billion. AT&T spent $18.2 billion; Verizon won $10.4 billion worth of bids, while T-Mobile’s winning bids totaled just under $1.8 billion. Two entities tied to Dish Network had winning bids of a combined $13.3 billion. Less than $1.2 billion went to other entities. The $41.3 billion total is more than double the reserve price set by the government and well ahead of what many wireless industry watchers were expecting.

Spectrum auction is bipartisanship in action

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:38:02 +0000

What if someone told you that Republicans and Democrats in Washington, DC, worked together to create thousands of new American jobs, reduce the deficit, and contribute billions to our country’s economic growth? The Federal Communications Commission completed an auction of spectrum that will be used to expand and improve mobile broadband.

This Week's Wireless Warnings

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:36:36 +0000

The Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the United Kingdom’s Ofcom all weighed in on wireless Internet issues. The three big takeaways: 1) Wi-Fi is important; 2) the Internet of Things has some trust issues to work out; and 3) throttled Internet is not unlimited Internet.

Hotels Withdraw Request to Block Personal Wi-Fi Hotspots

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:34:30 +0000

Marriott International and the hotel industry withdrew their request for Federal Communications Commission approval to block some personal Wi-Fi hotspots on their properties.

Mayors of Boston, Seattle, KC, others: No more muni broadband restrictions, please

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:33:48 +0000

A group of 38 mayors and other elected officials from cities like Boston, Seattle, and Kansas City urged the Federal Communications Commission to strike down state laws that restrict the development of public high-speed Internet services and allow municipal networks to flourish.

Bringing broadband to everybody

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:32:43 +0000

Barriers to broadband adoption still remain, particularly in lower-income communities. As technology moves forward, we are seeing certain communities fall behind. This so-called "digital divide" is unacceptable, and municipal broadband offers the kind of low-cost options these areas desperately need. Localities should have the right to decide how to invest in their broadband infrastructure.

Senior tech helps baby boomers come of digital age

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:31:27 +0000

Older people, as a group, continue to lag behind in adopting new technology, but an increasing number of elders are interested and involved in using technologies that allow them to stay more connected socially, with family and friends.

Sen Franken Queries Attorney General Nominee On Comcast/Time Warner Cable

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:29:22 +0000

Sen Al Franken (D-MN) used a portion of his time questioning Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch to argue against the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger and get assurances the Justice Department would do its due diligence on the deal.

Verizon to Allow Complete Opt Out of Mobile ‘Supercookies’

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:27:28 +0000

Verizon has decided to make a major revision to its mobile ad-targeting program. Users who do not want to be tracked with an identifier that Verizon uses for ad-targeting purposes will soon be able to completely opt out, the company said.

Netflix, Verizon get in last word on Internet rules

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:25:57 +0000

Companies like Netflix and Verizon are getting in a last word before the Federal Communications Commission circulates its network neutrality rules.

FCC 25 Mbps Decision Draws Diverse Crowd

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:25:09 +0000

The Federal Communications Commission drew understandably mixed reactions from Washington communications players to its vote Jan 29 to make 25 Mbps the new high-speed broadband threshold.

Time Warner Cable's Q4 Has Some Analysts Wondering, Who Needs Comcast?

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:24:18 +0000

Time Warner Cable managed to surprise a lot of analysts on Jan 29 with fourth quarter results that trounced expectations for the company and caused some to speculate that TWC could thrive even in the absence of a Comcast merger.

4G wireless coming to CTA subways later this year

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:23:10 +0000

Smartphone service dead spots could be a thing of the past for thousands of daily Chicago Transit Authority riders in Blue and Red Line tunnels, under a $32.5 million deal.

With shows like ‘Empire,’ ‘Black-ish’ and ‘Cristela,’ TV is more diverse than ever

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:22:16 +0000

The networks have hit on a surprising formula for success: airing television shows in prime time created by and starring minorities.

Cablevision Sues Verizon Over Wi-Fi Ads

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:21:21 +0000

Just days after Cablevision Systems introduced Freewheel, a Wi-Fi-only voice, text and data product for smartphones, the operator said it has filed a suit against Verizon that calls for Verizon to put a halt to advertisements that, Cablevision alleges, make “false, misleading and deceptive advertising claims about Wi-Fi service.”

Multi-Screen TV Viewing Far Exceeds OTT Video Viewing

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:20:12 +0000

Americans spend an average 175 hours per month engaged with a combination of multi-screen TV, four major Internet portals, YouTube and Facebook -- 35 hours per month more than they spend working. Eighty percent of that time is spent watching multi-screen TV, according to an analysis from the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau. The 175 hours includes time spent using mobile and non-mobile devices. Despite all the attention being given to Internet and over-the-top video viewing, multi-screen TV is where American consumers are spending the vast bulk of their time.

New FCC broadband threshold misses innovation opportunity

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:18:42 +0000

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to raise the definition of broadband to 25 mbps down/4 mbps up. The bigger issue is that the FCC missed an opportunity to reach its stated goal of ensuring “advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion” in a faster, smarter, and cheaper way.

HHS proposes path to improve health technology and transform care

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:17:27 +0000

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology released Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap Version 1.0.

NAB Board: Go For Auction; Split on ATSC 3.0

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:16:42 +0000

Members of the National Association of Broadcasters TV board are unified on how to proceed on the Federal Communications Commission incentive auction.

When did we stop ‘surfing’ the Web?

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:15:47 +0000

According to Mark Davies’ Corpus of Contemporary English, use of the phrase "surf the Web" peaked right at the turn of the century. Why exactly did that happen?

Google to change privacy policy after ICO investigation

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:12:01 +0000

The United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office has required Google to sign a formal undertaking to improve the information it provides to people about how it collects personal data in the UK after concerns were raised around changes to the company’s privacy policy.

What’s Really Happening with China’s Great Firewall

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:11:01 +0000

Three popular services that allow users in China to view otherwise-censored content have experienced outages, a sign of increasing government efforts to limit what Chinese users can read on the Internet. The companies, Golden Frog, Astrill and StrongVPN, which provide "Virtual Private Networks," or VPNs, have all publicly acknowledged experiencing problems. The problems seem to affect students and personal users. It does not seem that large businesses have been affected.

Putting Auction 97 in the History Books

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 13:06:51 +0000

The bidding in Auction 97 -- the AWS-3 auction -- has concluded. There will be a lot of discussion about the results over the days, weeks and months ahead, and rightly so – this was an historic auction. Although winning bidders must still make payments and submit applications prior to the grant of licenses, by any measure it’s safe to say that the auction was an overwhelming success. Based on the information available at this time, here are the highlights ...

Comcast-TWC $45 billion deal faces new hurdle

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 13:05:43 +0000

The Federal Communications Commission has thrown a new roadblock in the path of Comcast’s $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable, rewriting their definition of broadband to paint the largest US cable company as a more dominant force in high-speed internet access.

California PUC should tell FCC to nix Comcast-Time Warner merger

Benton Foundation — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 13:04:48 +0000

The new president of the California Public Utilities Commission, Michael Picker, has to restore consumers' trust in the regulatory agency. The proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable mega-merger presents a golden opportunity.