Aug 4, 2009 (Are Incumbent Telcos Endangering Community-Based Broadband Stimulus Projects?)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY AUGUST 4, 2009
Senate hearing today on "The Performance Rights Act and Parity among Music Delivery Platforms" See op-ed below and more at http://www.benton.org/node/26592
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Telecom Companies Scramble for Funding
Incumbent Telcos Endangering Community-Based Broadband Stimulus Projects?
Wiring Rural America: Which Technology Is Best?
To Spread Broadband, $7.2 Billion Isn't Enough
FCC Announces Participants in E-Gov Workshop for National Broadband Plan
40 percent of Chicagoans have little to no Web access
A Disconnect Between Congress and the FCC on Network Neutrality
All Un/Underserved Communities Should Be Aggregating Demand
Bandwidth on the Bayou
The trouble with hooking up
More broadband could speed Florida's recovery
EU says a third of Europeans never used Internet
CYBERSECURITY
Top Cybersecurity Aide At White House Resigns
Security researchers offer caution on smart grids
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Iraq Censorship Laws Move Ahead
Sunlight To Offer Ideas For FCC Facelift
MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Google Chief Resigns as Apple Director
Radio Free America
HEALTH AND MEDIA
Take Two Digital Pills and Call Me in the Morning
Small hospitals left behind in the race to IT
What Can US Learn From European Health Information Technology Experience?
Health Care Fight Drives the News
Cabbies Stay on Their Phones Despite Ban and Risks
ED TECH
FCC to Apply $900 Million in Unused E-Rate Funds; $100 Million Held in Reserve for 2010
Funding tops campus IT concerns
POLICYMAKERS
Clyburn Sworn In As FCC Commissioner
MORE ONLINE
A Look Ahead at the Money in the Communications Industry
Rivalry Between Apple and Palm Intensifies
Japan eyes e-politics as political rivalry grows
Unpopular Science
Coach sued for requesting Facebook logins
INTERNET/BROADBAND
TELECOM COMPANIES SCRAMBLE FOR FUNDING
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Rachael King]
The economic stimulus legislation known as the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 set aside $7.2 billion in grants and loans to encourage the installation of broadband networks in areas with little or no access to it, from hard-to-reach hinterlands to low-income inner-city neighborhoods. The Obama Administration considers access to high-speed Internet connections a critical way of bridging socioeconomic gaps, creating jobs, and spurring economic growth. The program isn't without its critics. Some say it doesn't go far enough in bringing Web access to the most remote areas, while others fret the government hasn't left itself a big enough window for disbursing so large a sum. Applicants, meantime, are racing to meet the August 14 deadline, though some say the government wants more detail than they can readily provide. The government asks for detailed proof a particular area lacks the cables and other equipment needed to provide fast Web access—and that service hasn't been available for years. The companies with the most data on broadband availability include the incumbent large providers, such as Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon Communications. Those companies have historically been reluctant to give up mapping data they consider proprietary and competitive, and it's difficult for many smaller providers to get information elsewhere.
http://benton.org/node/26867
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INCUMBENT TELCOS ENDANGERING COMMUNITY-BASED BROADBAND STIMULUS PROJECTS?
[SOURCE: 4GWirelessEvolution, AUTHOR: Craig Settles]
[Commentary] It's going to be hard moving from where broadband is today to where these stimulus grants promise to (hopefully) take us, unless communities respond vigorously to several threats to the success of this grant program. It may require 10 or 15 minutes to take a little action, but it's worthwhile insurance to protect your investment in your grant application. There are troubling signs that incumbent telcos could end up gloating over the torpedoing of many community-beneficial broadband projects, not all of which will require any effort on incumbents' parts. Let's take the issue of a 30-day extension to the NOFA deadline for this first round of funding. What, haven't heard about anyone asking for a 30-day extension? Could be because, according to a reporter who talked to RUS staff last week, no one's asked about an extension. This is pretty surprising considering the scores of people laboring feverishly and for whom more time would be a tremendous help.
http://benton.org/node/26854
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WIRING RURAL AMERICA: WHICH TECHNOLOGY IS BEST?
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Rachael King]
Government agencies are now considering the costs of providing high-speed Internet access to rural areas and which technologies might be the most cost-effective. Service providers are expected to propose a range of schemes to deliver high-speed Internet through both existing infrastructure -- such as telephone lines, cable-TV networks, or electric power lines -- and through the installation of new fiber-optic cables going directly to residences, new wireless networks, or by using satellites. While the Federal Communications Commission has remained neutral on which technology is best for rural markets, it did say in a May report on rural broadband that it needed to be cost-effective to install, provide consistent performance at an affordable price, and be able to upgrade to higher speeds over time.
http://benton.org/node/26866
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TO SPREAD BROADBAND, $7.2 BILLION ISN'T ENOUGH
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Larry Darby, Joseph P. Fuhr]
[Commentary] Access to telecommunications networks for all Americans has been the centerpiece of US information policy for 75 years. Now the US government is endeavoring to equip every citizen with broadband Internet access. But the $7.2 billion Congress has allocated for the plan may not stretch as far as lawmakers envision. Some companies and consumer groups have advised the Federal Communications Commission to set a goal for national broadband speeds of 10 million to 20 million bits per second. Meeting that goal will require network speeds 20 to 100 times faster than is typical in today's networks, which were designed for voice or one-way video distribution. Upgrading, extending, and adding to today's networks will require enormous capital expenditures. The problem is, nobody really knows how much capital will be needed. The broadband goal isn't yet defined, and the U.S. doesn't have an accurate count of how many households lack Internet connections or are "underserved" by slower networks. Part of the government's stimulus money will go toward defining this "broadband gap." Closing the gap could be more expensive than the country expects, however, and will depend on several technical and geographic factors.
http://benton.org/node/26865
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FCC ANNOUNCES PARTICIPANTS IN E-GOV WORKSHOP
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission kicks off what appears to be the hot topic for August: the National Broadband Plan. A workshop at the FCC will focus on civic engagement and e-government, and will feature participants who include Vivek Kundra, United States Chief Information Officer, Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, and others. The workshop will conclude with an open mike session providing an opportunity for public participation. "This is the first in a series of workshops representing unparalleled openness and public participation," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said. "It is highly fitting that civic participation is the first topic as we will need broad participation from all stakeholders in order to meet the moment and deliver a National Broadband Plan to Congress in February."
http://benton.org/node/26851
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40 PERCENT OF CHICAGOANS HAVE LITTLE TO NO WEB ACCESS
[SOURCE: University of Iowa, AUTHOR: Press release]
A University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll indicates that 40 percent of Chicago residents have little to no Web access. The city-commissioned study, conducted as a partnership between the UI and the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2008, showed one in four Chicagoans are completely offline and an additional 15 percent have limited Internet access. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley shared the results at a July 21 news conference, unveiling an initiative to address the digital divide between the city's rich and poor neighborhoods. He announced the launch of a program to bring technology resources to underserved neighborhoods (Auburn Gresham, Chicago Lawn, Englewood and Pilsen) using federal stimulus money and donations from Microsoft, the MacArthur Foundation and other organizations. These four Chicago neighborhoods will receive free wireless broadband access and better community technology centers. The researchers will do a follow-up study in two years to see if providing free wireless spurs economic development, creation of jobs, and better wages in depressed urban areas. "Chicago is the only city in America with this type of detailed data on technology access for its population," said UI political scientist Caroline Tolbert . "It's gratifying as a researcher to know that our data helped illuminate a problem and influence policy in a positive way."
http://benton.org/node/26850
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A DISCONNECT BETWEEN CONGRESS AND THE FCC ON NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] Although Members of Congress introduced the latest version of a bill on Network Neutrality, should we be worried that there's no planned Federal Communications Commission broadband workshop on the issue of an open Internet? Did the FCC know this bill was brewing? If not, why? If the FCC did know, then why not devote any time to analyzing the issue? A frank discussion about how open broadband networks should be is so incredibly crucial to the overall broadband policy debate because it touches on so many other issues -- so how we can afford to ignore it?
http://benton.org/node/26849
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ALL UN/UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES SHOULD BE AGGREGATING DEMAND
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] Every single community that considers itself unserved or underserved should be working to aggregate demand for broadband among its citizens immediately. The reasons for doing so are manifold. For one, it's important to acknowledge that un/underserved communities likely won't have a competitive broadband marketplace, where multiple entities operating multiple last-mile facilities compete for business. If a market hasn't been able to support or attract a single broadband provider, then it likely won't be able to support the deployment of multiple networks. But in order for any network to be financially sustainable, it needs sufficient demand for the services it delivers, which is why I'm advocating that all un/underserved communities start aggregating demand immediately. The best part about doing this is that it can set the stage for encourage all models of deployment.
http://benton.org/node/26848
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BANDWIDTH ON THE BAYOU
[SOURCE: Governing, AUTHOR: Ellen Perlman]
A look at Lafayette (LA) and its ultimately successful efforts to build its own fiber optic broadband network. As efforts proceed to improve the nation's patchwork broadband infrastructure, most attention is focused on the $7.2 billion allocated in the federal stimulus law to bring broadband to rural and other underserved areas that still live in the dial-up world. Some of those places, unable to attract commercial providers, may find themselves with no other realistic option than to build their own networks, and they are likely to encounter many of the same hurdles that Lafayette and other communities have faced.
http://benton.org/node/26847
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THE TROUBLE WITH HOOKING UP
[SOURCE: Boston Globe, AUTHOR: Hiawatha Bray]
Free municipal wireless sounds like a great idea for Boston or any city that has already invested heavily in high-tech infrastructure. Too bad there's no more money to pay for the last link of the chain. Ubiquitous wireless, especially if it relies on mesh networking technology, only works if people use it. The evidence so far is that they will -- if it's free. The trouble is, Internet bandwidth isn't free. Neither is the operation and maintenance of a citywide network. Somebody, somewhere has to pay. If not the users, or the city, then who?
http://benton.org/node/26846
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MORE BROADBAND COULD SPEED FLORIDA'S RECOVERY
[SOURCE: Sarasota Herald-Tribune, AUTHOR: Liz Cox]
[Commentary] Few people realize exactly what a faster, more accessible Internet could mean for Florida's economy -- a wealth of job creation, better learning opportunities, quicker emergency response, business growth and an overall improved quality of life. Although in 2007 half of all Floridians had no access to high-speed Internet, the outlook has gotten much brighter, thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and its $7.2 billion for the Broadband Initiatives Program and Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. Through technology installation and the better opportunities broadband creates, universal high-speed Internet will grow small business, create jobs and stimulate the economy -- the key tools for Florida's recovery and growth.
http://benton.org/node/26845
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EU SAYS A THIRD OF EUROPEANS NEVER USED INTERNET
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: ]
One third of European Union citizens say they have never used the Internet, compared with 40 percent in 2007, an EU study showed on Tuesday. In the report on the digital economy in the 27-nation EU, the European Commission also said more than one in four Europeans had never used a computer and 40 percent had no Internet access at home. Among those not having an Internet link, more than a third said they did not see the need while roughly one in four said they could not afford it. Older people -- above the age of 65 -- and the unemployed were the least active online. The Commission, the EU's executive arm, said people aged 16-24 did most online.
http://benton.org/node/26857
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CYBERSECURITY
TOP CYBERSECURITY AIDE AT WHITE HOUSE RESIGNS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
Melissa Hathaway, the White House's senior aide on cybersecurity, has decided to resign following delays in the appointment of a coordinator to spearhead the government's efforts to protect the nation's computer networks. Hathaway, who also served as a cybersecurity aide during the Bush administration, had been a contender for the position of cybersecurity coordinator. But in an interview Monday, she said she had withdrawn her application. "I wasn't willing to continue to wait any longer, because I'm not empowered right now to continue to drive the change," she said. "I've concluded that I can do more now from a different role," most likely in the private sector. Hathaway noted that it has been two months since President Obama made a highly acclaimed speech on the importance of cybersecurity and pledged to "personally" select a cybersecurity coordinator. A colleague close to Hathaway said she had become dismayed by the delay in the appointment. The colleague, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that Hathaway had "the sense that this was very political, that she has been too closely tied to the Bush administration."
http://benton.org/node/26864
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SECURITY RESEARCHERS OFFER CAUTION ON SMART GRIDS
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Jordan Robertson]
The race to build a "smarter" electrical grid could have a dark side. Security experts are starting to show the dangers of equipping homes and businesses with new meters that enable two-way communication with utilities. There are many benefits to upgrading the nation's electricity networks, which is why a smart-grid movement was already revving up before the recent economic recovery package included $4.5 billion for the technology. Smarter grids could help conserve energy by giving utilities more control over and insight into how power flows. But presentations at the Black Hat and DefCon security conferences in Las Vegas this week highlighted potential problems with moving too fast. The risks are similar to what happens when computers are linked over the Internet. By exploiting weaknesses in the way computers talk to each other, hackers can seize control of people's machines. In the case of the power grid, better communication between utilities and the meters at individual homes and businesses raises the possibility that someone could control the power supply for a single building, an entire neighborhood, or worse.
http://benton.org/node/26863
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
IRAQ CENSORSHIP LAWS MOVE AHEAD
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Timothy Williams]
The doors of the communications revolution were thrown open in Iraq after the American-led invasion in 2003: In rushed a wave of music videos featuring scantily clad Turkish singers, Web sites recruiting suicide bombers, racy Egyptian soap operas, pornography, romance novels, and American and Israeli news and entertainment sites that had long been blocked under Saddam Hussein's rule. Now those doors may be shut again, at least partially, as the Iraqi government moves to ban sites deemed harmful to the public, to require Internet cafes to register with the authorities and to press publishers to censor books. The government, which has been proceeding quietly on the new censorship laws, said prohibitions were necessary because material currently available in the country had had the effect of encouraging sectarian violence in the fragile democracy and of warping the minds of the young.
http://benton.org/node/26862
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SUNLIGHT TO OFFER IDEAS FOR FCC FACELIFT
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Andrew Noyes]
The Sunlight Foundation has embarked on a project to show what the FCC's Internet presence should look like in the Web 2.0 world. The watchdog will release a mock up of a re-imagined FCC.gov but unlike its previous redesign projects -- USA.gov, the EPA, the FEC, and the Supreme Court -- the group is asking for public input before putting pen to paper. Sunlight wants to know: What kinds of information are missing from the FCC's site? How should information be organized? How should it be presented? How should it be accessed and downloaded? To what extent should the site incorporate social media and how should it be used? The dialogue will take place online through open government discussion groups and at Sunlight Labs site.
http://benton.org/node/26844
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
GOOGLE CHIEF RESIGNS AS APPLE DIRECTOR
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone]
The alliance between Apple and Google, two Silicon Valley giants with a powerful common enemy in Microsoft, is now clearly fraying. Apple announced on Monday that Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, was stepping down from its board of directors. The move comes as the Federal Trade Commission is looking into whether the two companies violated antitrust laws by sharing common board members. In a statement on Monday afternoon, Richard Feinstein, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, commended the companies for acknowledging "that sharing directors raises competitive issues," but said the agency would continue to investigate "remaining interlocking directorates between the companies." The companies still share one board member, Arthur Levinson, chairman of Genentech. Schmidt's resignation from Apple's board constitutes a stark admission — after Apple and Google previously downplayed the issue — that the companies are now directly competing in the crucial race to develop the next generation of software for mobile phones and personal computers.
http://benton.org/node/26852
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RADIO FREE AMERICA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Nancy Sinatra]
[Commentary] Songwriters and publishers are paid when their tunes are played on the radio, but none of the artists or musicians who bring the music to life receive even a penny. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing today on legislation that will right this wrong, which dates back to the early days of sound recordings. Terrestrial radio is the only radio platform that still doesn't have to pay these royalties. Singers and musicians, as much as songwriters, create something when they perform — and we should make sure all artists are paid when their creations are heard on the radio. [Nancy Sinatra has boots made for walking.]
http://benton.org/node/26861
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HEALTH AND MEDIA
TAKE TWO DIGITAL PILLS AND CALL ME IN THE MORNING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Don Clark]
Dozens of large and small companies are turning to wireless technology to achieve what the Obama Administration is seeking through legislation: a health-care system that keeps people healthier for less. But claims about cost savings from new technology often don't pan out. There are "precious few" studies that back up such promises involving remote monitoring, says Mark Holland, managing director of System Research Services, an advisory firm focusing on health-care technology. And if reimbursements from Medicare or private insurers don't cover the cost of high-tech approaches, doctors and hospitals won't want to deploy them.
http://benton.org/node/26858
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SMALL HOSPITALS LEFT BEHIND IN THE IT RACE
[SOURCE: HealthITNews, AUTHOR: Bernie Monegain]
Executives and clinicians at small rural hospitals across the country are eager to adopt more information technology, but many are hard-pressed to find the right vendor, according to a new report from healthcare IT research firm KLAS. The small, critical access hospitals, face the same deadlines for proving meaningful use of IT in order to qualify for available funds under the federal stimulus package. Closing the IT Gap: Critical Access to 50 Bed Hospitals highlights the experiences of more than 300 healthcare professionals at hospitals with 50 or fewer beds. Providers at these critical access facilities generally reported an appetite for software capability that exceeds vendors' ability to deliver, particularly in areas like computerized physician order entry (CPOE). Only a handful of electronic medical record vendors specifically serve the critical access market.
http://benton.org/node/26839
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WHAT CAN US LEARN FROM EUROPEAN HIT EXPERIENCE?
[SOURCE: CSC, AUTHOR: Harald Deutsch, Fran Turisco]
The stage is now set for the United States to make substantial progress in designing and building large-scale eHealth solutions that can eventually be connected to form a national health information network. However, even under the best-case scenarios, these initiatives are organizationally, technically and politically complex, and costly, and take years to complete. Electronic capture and storage of health information always brings forth differing, often very strong, opinions about patients' rights, providers' needs, and government intervention and responsibilities. Understanding the risks and issues from similar efforts can help avoid making the same mistakes.
http://benton.org/node/26838
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HEALTH CARE FIGHT DRIVES THE NEWS
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
For the second week in a row, health care reform topped the nation's news agenda, with the legislative battle increasingly portrayed in the press as a crucial test of Barack Obama's political skills and strengths. The issue accounted for 19% of the newshole from July 27-August 2, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. While that represents a moderate drop from the coverage level in PEJ's News Coverage Index previous week (when it was 25%), the health care debate, or at least its politics, was the overwhelmingly dominant story on the radio and cable talk shows. In that political polarized element of the media culture, the politics of health care last week accounted for 40% of the airtime studied. The emergence of health care as the hot topic on the ideological talk shows signals its status as the latest battleground in the young Obama presidency.
http://benton.org/node/26856
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CABBIES STAY ON THEIR PHONES DESPITE BAN AND RISKS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Grynbaum]
New York City cabbies have been banned from using cellphones for a decade — even the hands-free type, putting the city a step ahead of state law. But the stringent rules remain almost entirely unenforced, even amid research that shows drivers who talk on cellphones are four times as likely to cause a crash. And as the city struggles to find more effective ways to confront the problem — call it an epidemic of gab — much of the burden to report cellphone abuse falls on passengers, who can feel powerless or intimidated.
http://benton.org/node/26855
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ED TECH
FCC TO APPLY $900 MILLION IN UNUSED E-RATE FUNDS; $100 MILLION HELD IN RESERVE FOR 2010
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission will carry forward $900 million in unused funds from the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism (also known as the E-rate program) to increase E-rate disbursements for funding year 2009. Although the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) has projected that $1 billion in unused funds is available, the FCC decided that it is in the public interest to carry forward $900 million and to reserve $100 million for use in E-rate funding year 2010.
http://benton.org/node/26842
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FUNDING TOPS CAMPUS IT CONCERNS
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Dennis Carter]
Slashed campus budgets and dwindling endowments have spurred university IT officials toward cost-saving technologies, and a new survey shows that saving IT dollars has vaulted to the No. 1 priority of campus technology decision makers during the current recession. The newly released 10th annual EDUCAUSE Current Issues Survey, completed online in December 2008 mostly by campus chief information officers, ranked the most pressing issues in college IT offices. Administrative systems, an issue that has remained among the survey's top three issues since 2000, ranked second this year. Technology security--the No. 1 concern in 2008--and infrastructure ranked third and fourth, respectively. The Current Issues Survey was completed by 554 college technology officials on public and private campuses of all sizes. Other top concerns from EDUCAUSE respondents included teaching and learning with technology, identity and access management, IT leadership, and disaster recovery.
http://benton.org/node/26841
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POLICYMAKERS
CLYBURN SWORN IN AS FCC COMMISSIONER
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Mignon Clyburn was sworn in Monday as the first African American woman Federal Communications Commission commissioner. The swearing-in came at the Matthew J. Perry Jr. Courthouse in Columbia (SC) and was administered by Matthew J. Perry himself, a pioneering civil rights attorney and judge. "I am deeply honored that President Obama and the United States Senate have entrusted me with the privilege of serving as a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission," said Commissioner Clyburn. "I look forward to working with the Administration, Congress, Chairman Genachowski, my fellow Commissioners and the incredibly talented FCC staff, to ensure that all Americans enjoy the tremendous benefits offered by modern communications. This is an exciting and challenging time in our nation's history. I am eager to hear from and work with all stakeholders to carry out, along with my colleagues, communications policies that protect consumers and encourage robust competition and innovation."
http://benton.org/node/26843
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