March 17, 2009 (Happy St Patrick's Day)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY MARCH 17, 2009 (Happy St Patrick's Day!)

Two events of note today: 1) How IT is Changing Medical Research and 2) the NTIA/RUS road show heads to Vegas -- today's topics are Reaching Vulnerable Populations; Driving Demand and the Role of Strategic Institutions; Definitions of Broadband, Underserved, and Unserved; Selection Criteria and Weighing Priorities. See http://www.benton.org/calendar/2009-03-17

THE STIMULUS
   Phone firms seek low bar for broadband grants
   Big Telcos Drag Their Heels on Broadband Stimulus
   Writing an Effective Public Interest Rule for NTIA Broadband Grant Eligibility
   Coordination Between NTIA and RUS Spurs Talk of Common Broadband Application
   We Need A National Broadband Standard
   Rural markets need backbone stimulus
   States Seek Best Strategies on Obtaining Broadband Stimulus Funds Close-to-Home
   Internet companies hope stimulus is a boon for the Bush
   To Have Or To Have Not
   Will NTIA Actually be Deciding Who Gets Broadband Stimulus Grants?
   The Fallacy of Equating Broadband with High Speed Internet Access
   E-prescribing to soar with new spending

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Internet empowerment

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
FCC Explores New Approach to Increase Media Diversity
ACA To FCC: Collect Only Current 70/70 Data

JOURNALISM
   Hearst prints final Seattle PI
   In bad economy, TV news turns to average Americans
   Media Focus on Economic Villains

PRIVACY
Leibowitz Pushes For Privacy Harmonization
Website-infecting attacks spike to 450,000 a day

QUICKLY -- Mobile Internet usage more than doubles in January; Why Grantmaking on Media Policy Still Matters; Harold Feld Joins Public Knowledge; Hadoop, a Free Software Program, Finds Uses Beyond Search

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THE STIMULUS

PHONE FIRMS SEEK LOW BAR FOR BROADBAND GRANTS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Kim Dixon]
Telecommunications firms vying for $7.2 billion in funding for broadband expansion urged regulators to allow all companies that have current government licenses to be eligible to apply. Telecommunications and Internet officials, state regulators and consumer groups are lobbying to shape the still unwritten rules that will govern how regulators dole out the money. The Commerce Department will disperse most of the broadband funding included in the Obama administration's stimulus valued at nearly $800 billion. The broadband portion aims to bring technology to unserved and underserved areas. "If we are to reach the goal of ubiquitous broadband availability, we must use all tools available and the private sector should be a part of that," Curt Stamp, president of the Independent Telephone and Telecommunication Alliance, told a public meeting on the program. Stamp was also speaking for the broader wireless, phone and cable industry, as part of a broader industry coalition. But state and consumer groups said the bar should be set higher for private sector eligibility, including a track record in supporting local communities and in working with state governments. Sascha Meinrath, a technology expert at the public interest group New America Foundation, said profits will be a byproduct of the program, not the end-goal of this stimulus funding.
http://benton.org/node/23342
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BIG TELCOS DRAG THEIR HEELS ON BROADBAND STIMULUS
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Spencer Ante, Arik Hesseldahl]
As Washington prepares to dole out some $8 billion to promote the spread of broadband access, don't expect Big Telco to rush to the front of the line. Some of the largest US telecom operators are dragging their heels on asking for federal money. Some may sit out early funding rounds entirely or ultimately ask for only a sliver of the total. Telecom giants are concerned that once finalized, the program will include burdensome regulations that will force them to open their equipment to rivals or otherwise hamper their ability to manage broadband networks. That sentiment was captured in a Mar. 16 letter sent by industry group USTelecom to the Commerce and Agriculture Depts. and the Federal Communications Commission. In the letter, the group urged government officials to not let the broadband stimulus get mired down in contentious policy debates. "The agencies should not try to impose other requirements on grantees as part of this process," wrote USTelecom CEO Walter McCormick.
http://benton.org/node/23347
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WRITING AN EFFECTIVE PUBLIC INTERNET RULE FOR NTIA BROADBAND GRANT ELIGIBILITY
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Charles Benton]
[Commentary] The Recovery Act identifies two types of entities eligible to apply for and win National Telecommunications and Information Administration broadband grants -- 1) state and local governments and 2) non-profit organizations. But the Act includes an opening for any other entity to become eligible -- if the NTIA finds it to be in the public interest. To be clear, the law does not require that private entities be awarded grants -- it requires that their eligibility be bounded by the public interest. The NTIA's rules should counterbalance the characteristics of for-profits -- maximizing revenues and values for shareholders -- that may conflict with the broader public's interest and ensure that entities' use of government funds are transparent so the public may hold them accountable. The public interest rule, then, should require that applicants have a statement of values and code of ethics, a well-defined conflict-of-interest policy, and a Whistleblower Protection policy. The eligibility rule should require applicants to allow independent reviews of their financial procedures, controls, and policies in order to provide strong financial safeguards. And, to the extent a for-profit entity uses an award to improve or extend a portion of an existing project or network they should have to adhere to these conditions to the entire network benefited. Since the NTIA is, in essence, donating money to these entities in a shared, public mission as defined by the Act, the entities should adhere to a donor bill of rights.
http://www.benton.org/node/23323
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COORDINATION BETWEEN NTIA AND RUS SPURS TALK OF COMMON BROADBAND APPLICATION
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Jesse Masai]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service should keep the application process for broadband stimulus dollars as simple as possible, a group of panelists said on Monday. Speaking at the second panel of the March 16 public meeting, "Coordination between NTIA and RUS on Broadband Initiatives," the message imparted was simple: coordination ought "not be buried in detail," as expressed by J. Bradford Ramsey, general counsel of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Mark Cooper, director of research at Consumer Federation of America, said there is need to establish "overreaching principles" to coordinate stimulus spending across agencies. "Let us also set thresholds and standards to meet basic connecting needs," said Cooper. "Let us also target maximum coverage rather than maximum functionality."
http://benton.org/node/23348
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WE NEED A NATIONAL BROADBAND STANDARD
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] While there's lots of energy behind the development of a national broadband policy, how can we discuss strategies for making progress when we don't yet know where we're going and what goals we're setting out to achieve? For this reason before setting policy we should first establish a national broadband standard. What are the characteristics of broadband that every American deserves? What are the characteristics of those broadband networks that deserve government subsidies? How can we make sure that the broadband networks we support live up to their responsibilities to the public interest? By first focusing on setting this standard we can then shape policies to achieve these goals. Without this standard and these goals, we won't be able to create policies that are effective in achieving any real progress. The most important first part is universality, but what else should we include?
http://benton.org/node/23340
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RURAL MARKETS NEED BACKBONE STIMULUS
[SOURCE: FierceTelecom, AUTHOR: Dan O'Shea]
While many observers have been discussing where broadband stimulus funding is needed and which access technologies service providers are likely to use to reach their end users, investment further up the line in the network backbone should not be forgotten. Investing in fiber network backbones will provide more backhaul capacity for all the new mobile broadband and municipal wireless usage that will arise in previously under-fed rural markets.
http://benton.org/node/23339
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STATES SEEK BEST STRATEGIES ON OBTAINING BROADBAND STIMULUS FUNDS CLOSE-TO-HOME
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
States are poised to play an important and influential role in the new broadband programs at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. "The states bring a good deal to the table" when it comes to broadband policy, said Indiana Utility Regulatory Commissioner Larry Landis. "This is going to be a huge undertaking for NTIA, and the states can help them get up to speed relatively quickly." Landis, co-chair of a joint board proposing broadband actions by both state regulators and the Federal Communications Commission of the NARUC, points to the way that states stepped in over the past several years to fill a perceived void in federal policy-making with respect to broadband. At least 39 states have taken some steps toward creating statewide broadband policies and better access, he said.
http://benton.org/node/23338
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INTERNET COMPANIES HOPE STIMULUS IS A BOON FOR THE BUSH
[SOURCE: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, AUTHOR: Christopher Eshleman]
Internet access now is available to most Alaska residents, but much of it arrives — particularly in rural areas — at less-than-optimal speeds. Many in the state are wondering whether the month-old federal stimulus plan could squeeze money north to help Alaska get faster at its collective keyboards. "The United States lags behind other developed nations in the availability of broadband service," said Alex Hills, a Palmer-based communications consultant. "And within the U.S., Alaska is one of the least advanced in broadband service ... the new stimulus act is an opportunity to make a quantum leap in broadband availability." Alaska, after all, is about as rural as it gets. Anyone thinking of big construction projects off the Railbelt faces the basic challenge of high costs and low revenues. Because of that, many of the state's rural regions experience Internet speeds far slower than the speed considered the staple for broadband: 768 kilobits per second. In Alaska, the groups paying attention to the stimulus plan include three big telecommunications companies: ACS, GCI and AT&T. Beyond them are firms and agencies interested in improving their broadband access directly or through the communication companies — nonprofits, school districts and health care organizations interested in, for example, expanding telemedicine services and distance education.
http://benton.org/node/23337
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TO HAVE OR TO HAVE NOT
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Kermit Ross]
[Commentary] In a country as rich and advanced as ours, you have to wonder how we created this "digital divide" in the first place. It's getting to the point where a multi-media, broadband connection is a necessity of modern life. If you have one, you can live and work in the modern world to the fullest extent. If you have not, you are left behind, stranded in the 20th century. But expensive, and rather grandiose, fiber optic-based networks reach only about half of the big telcos' customers, most of them in the suburban neighborhoods that surround large cities. Customers in these chosen areas are the broadband "haves". But, if you live in the inner city, in a small town, or in a rural area, and your local telco is Verizon or AT&T, your broadband destiny is to be a "have not". The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act puts $7.2 billion to work to alter the broadband landscape in the "have not" regions. A lot of it is going to go toward building modern, multi-media broadband infrastructure in inner cities, small towns and rural areas that have been neglected, abandoned or sold by the big telcos. It's about time. And, it's money well spent.
http://benton.org/node/23336
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WILL NTIA ACTUALLY BE DECIDING WHO GETS BROADBAND STIMULUS GRANTS?
[SOURCE: TMCnet.com, AUTHOR: Gary Kim]
[Commentary] Among the great unknowns in the three-round disbursement of $7 billion worth of National Telecommunications and Information Administration funds to support broadband are some pretty basic matters. It is not yet clear that many "for profit" companies will be allowed to bid, save for "economically or socially disadvantaged small businesses as defined in section 8(a) of the Small Business Act." NTIA has the money, but the rules do not yet clarify whether NTIA or perhaps other entities - such as state-level bodies - will be making the actual awards. The statute directs NTIA to seek state advice on how funds should be spent in each of the respective states. The statute does not bind NTIA to follow those suggestions. But given the urgency of getting rules into place in time for disbursement of a third of the funds by this summer, one has to wonder whether NTIA might not simply punt, at least for the first disbursement, and allow states to create authorities of their own to make the award decisions.
http://benton.org/node/23335
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THE FALLACY OF EQUATING BROADBAND WITH HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Kevin Walsh]
[Commentary] For many years policy makers, media, and industry influencers have used the terms "broadband" and "high speed Internet access" as if they were synonymous. This incorrect line of thinking—akin to equating "freeway" with "driving to work" or "pipe" with "hot water"—has led to regulatory confusion and hindered innovation among broadband providers. The term broadband refers to a physical connection between a subscriber and a network operator point of presence. In the telco case, the physical connection is either DSL or fiber, for cable it's coax, and for wireless it's airwaves. The word broadband was adopted to distinguish the transmission medium from its narrowband forerunners. High speed Internet (HSI) access, on the other hand, is simply one of the many things that can be done over broadband (just like driving to work is one of the things that can be done on the freeway). HSI is a service, or logical connection, between a subscriber and an Internet service provider (ISP). The broadband network operator merely provides a high-speed conduit between the ISP and the subscriber. While this might seem to be somewhat pedantic to most of us, lack of understanding among policymakers unfortunately pollutes the debate surrounding what is sure to be a hot topic within a new FCC and a broadband stimulus package with many aspects yet to be defined: Whether and to what extent the Internet should be regulated.
http://benton.org/node/23334
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E-PRESCRIBING TO SOAR WITH NEW SPENDING
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Will Dunham]
As many as 75 percent of U.S. doctors will be writing electronic prescriptions within five years, thanks to new federal spending to encourage e-prescribing, according to a forecast released on Monday. The economic stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama last month included about $19 billion to promote the use of healthcare information technology, including e-prescribing. An estimated 13 percent of U.S. doctors prescribe drugs electronically, leaving the vast majority writing paper prescriptions, according to Surescripts, which operates the largest U.S. electronic prescribing network. The report projected the figure would increase to 75 percent in five years and to about 90 percent by 2018. The report, prepared by the healthcare research firm Visante for PCMA, projected that e-prescribing would save the U.S. government $22 billion over the next decade, more than covering the $19 billion in spending in the stimulus bill.
http://benton.org/node/23330
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

INTERNET EMPOWERMENT
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Ellen Miller]
[Commentary] This week — Sunshine Week — news organizations shed light on how the public benefits from knowing what the government is doing, and why. And the Internet increasingly can play a role in providing more information to expose crises such as the salmonella story. To take advantage of the full power of the Internet, there are some simple things every agency should do. All data should be made available in formats that are open, searchable and "mashable." That way, creative programmers can more easily create new ways of looking at things. For example, the EarmarkWatch.org map shows thousands of earmarks in the fiscal 2008 defense-appropriations bill layered over a map of the country. There is also much Congress should do. For years, the Senate has refused to require members to file their campaign finance records electronically. The House of Representatives has done it this way for years. And while Congress has strengthened lobbying disclosure laws, they still don't go far enough. Lobbyists are required only to file quarterly, and then in very general terms. So ferreting out who lobbied on what and why is an exercise in "who done it" long after the fact. Lobbyists should file online daily with whom they meet and what they talk about. A fundamental shift is beginning. Government is starting to recognize how the Internet can play a transformational role in restoring trust to its institutions and officials. And we, the people, are just beginning to imagine the ways we can use this transparency to demand more accountability.
http://benton.org/node/23346
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP

FCC EXPLORES NEW APPROACH TO INCREASE MEDIA DIVERSITY
[SOURCE: FreedomToListen.org, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
The Federal Communications Commission is launching an effort to promote media diversity with a proposal designed to boost minority ownership of television and cable properties. In the mid-1990s, Congress forced the agency to scrap a program that awarded tax certificates to companies selling media outlets to minorities. FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein and Chairman Michael Copps have long fought to reinstate tax deferrals that encourage sales to minorities and women but have been stymied by a court case setting a high bar for race-based incentives. "For years we've been frustrated by the lack of diversity in ownership," Commissioner Adelstein said during remarks at a Consumer Federation of America conference. To circumvent the obstacle, Adelstein said the agency wants to permit "disadvantaged" business to qualify. That category would include all races while skewing heavily toward helping minorities and women. "At a minimum we're going to launch Adarand studies and begin to review how we're going to change the definition," he said, referring the 1995 Supreme Court decision in Adarand Constructors v. Pena. Under that ruling, an agency can engage in a "limited amount of government favoritism" for minorities if it can demonstrate that such steps are necessary to address past discrimination, said Andrew Schwartzman, president and CEO of the Media Access Project, a public interest law firm. "I think that ultimate decision will take a significant amount of time because in order to do that we need to have better data than we have today to ensure that it's constitutionally sustainable," Adelstein added.
http://benton.org/node/23333
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ACA TO FCC: COLLECT ONLY CURRENT 70/70 DATA
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The American Cable Association, which represents smaller and mid-sized cable operators, officially asked the Federal Communications Commission to collect only current data in its proposed new 70/70 reporting form, and not to require cable operators to report telephone, digital or cable -modem information for the form. That came in comments Friday to the FCC on its proposal to make changes to the data-collection form it uses to determine whether cable has reached a threshhold for possible new regulation. The FCC last month concluded the 70/70 test -- 70% penetration, 70% subscribership -- had not been met, but that it was in the long-delayed report based on 2006 data. The commission then decided last month to play catch-up by combining the 2007, 2008 and 2009 "annual" reports into a single document. The Commission is considering a raft of new reporting requirements to help it better determine cable's penetration of the multichannel video market.
http://benton.org/node/23331
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JOURNALISM

HEARST PRINTS FINAL SEATTLE PI
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Gina Keating]
The Hearst Corp plans to roll out the final print edition of its ailing Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Tuesday then move it online, ending speculation about the fate of the 146-year-old newspaper. Hearst, which failed over two months to find a buyer for the venerable daily, on Monday said it will move 20 of the newspaper's workers to the new, free online business, while another 145 had taken severance packages. Hearst believes the Post-Intelligencer is the largest daily newspaper to migrate entirely to an online version. Hearst may also close the San Francisco Chronicle -- which lost more than $50 million in 2008 and may lose more this year -- unless it can save money via layoffs and other cost cuts.
http://benton.org/node/23332
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IN BAD ECONOMY, TV NEWS TURNS TO AVERAGE AMERICANS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Alex Dobuzinskis]
Broadcast television news programs are expanding their gaze beyond Wall Street and Washington to mainstream America, heralding projects that give voice to everyday people and their financial woes. Martin Kaplan, media expert and director of the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California, said the networks had turned to the voices of average Americans to counter grass-roots competition from Internet news sources. Kaplan said he welcomed the networks' shift in focus.
http://benton.org/node/23329
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MEDIA FOCUS ON ECONOMIC VILLAINS
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
In a week highlighted by a rise in the stock market and a showdown between a comedian and cable host, the financial crisis was again the top story in the news—by a wide margin. The economic meltdown, with its spreading storylines, accounted for 35% of the newshole from March 9-15, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. Related stories, such as the Bernard Madoff scandal and problems in the auto industry, added another 8%, as measured by PEJ's weekly News Coverage Index, an examination of 55 different mainstream news outlets across five media sectors. Last week, the narrative seemed to focus more on what had been a smaller but ongoing element, the hunt for people or institutions that appear to embody the nearly unbridled excess that contributed to the unraveling of the financial system.
http://benton.org/node/23344
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PRIVACY

LEIBOWITZ PUSHES FOR PRIVACY HARMONIZATION
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz told a data security workshop on Monday that the United States and other countries must "move beyond the 'we agree to disagree' approach" to securing consumers' sensitive information in the global marketplace. Such harmony among nations, which have varying privacy rules and regulations, is "not beyond our reach," Leibowitz said, pointing to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's 1980 privacy guidelines and a set of security guidelines adopted by the group in 2002. "Without adequate data security there really is no privacy," he said. Corporations must protect their back doors from hackers, malware, spyware and other high-tech intrusion mechanisms and protect their front door by properly storing and disposing of consumers' data, Leibowitz said, noting that the FTC is "not shy about knocking on anyone's door."
http://benton.org/node/23327
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WEBSITE-INFECTING ATTACKS SPIKE TO 450,000 A DAY
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Byron Acohido]
Cybercriminals are spreading invisible infections far and wide across the Internet by hammering hundreds of thousands of websites each day with so-called SQL injection attacks. The trend started last summer and has continued to accelerate. Security experts say consumers must keep updates for anything to do with their browser current, though most now do not do this. This includes updates for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, iTunes, QuickTime, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. Such updates increasingly include important security patches that can block infections from taking hold.
http://benton.org/node/23343
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QUICKLY

MOBILE INTERNET USAGE MORE THAN DOUBLES IN JANUARY
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: ]
According to a report released Monday by market researcher comScore, the number of US residents using mobile devices to access news and information more than doubled to 63.2 million in January over the previous year. Applications that can be downloaded to the phone, such as maps, have helped drive the growth in using mobile devices to access news and information. And text-based searches have also contributed to the rise in popularity of accessing news and information via a phone. In the US, the number of unique mobile phone users who access news and information on a daily business has grown to 22.4 million in January over the previous year.
http://benton.org/node/23328
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WHY GRANTMAKING ON MEDIA POLICY STILL MATTERS
[SOURCE: Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media, AUTHOR: Becky Lentz]
[Commentary] Journalist and media reform advocate Bill Moyers has claimed that "speech is the oxygen of democracy." Then by analogy our communications infrastructure serves as its vital respiratory system. Yet, too few realize the importance of the media policies that govern how speech flows into and out of our democratic body politic in relation to how our democracy functions. [more at the URL below]
http://benton.org/node/23326
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HAROLD FELD JOINS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Press release]
Harold Feld is joining Public Knowledge. PK President Gigi Sohn said, "Harold is one of the most admired legal minds in the telecommunications field. His knowledge of subject matter ranges from the intricacies of spectrum policy to broadband regulation and intellectual property. Harold will be our lead attorney in issues before the Federal Communications Commission and in the courts. He will also continue to be the lead attorney for the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition, while mentoring the young attorneys at Public Knowledge." http://benton.org/node/23325
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HADOOP, A FREE SOFTWARE PROGRAM, FINDS USES BEYOND SEARCH
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ashlee Vance]
In the span of just a couple of years, Hadoop, a free software program named after a toy elephant, has taken over some of the world's biggest Web sites. It controls the top search engines and determines the ads displayed next to the results. It decides what people see on Yahoo's homepage and finds long-lost friends on Facebook. It has achieved this by making it easier and cheaper than ever to analyze and access the unprecedented volumes of data churned out by the Internet. By mapping information spread across thousands of cheap computers and by creating an easier means for writing analytical queries, engineers no longer have to solve a grand computer science challenge every time they want to dig into data. Instead, they simply ask a question. "It's a breakthrough," said Mark Seager, head of advanced computing at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "I think this type of technology will solve a whole new class of problems and open new services."
http://benton.org/node/23345
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