Sept 29, 2009 (Net Neutrality; National Broadband Plan)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2009
NATAO is in New Orleans and today's FCC meeting is a mid-term report on the National Broadband Plan. See http://bit.ly/4BPXYP
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
Senators Plan Bill To Advance Net Neutrality
Response to AT&T's letter to FCC on Google Voice
Why AT&T is full of it and why Google Voice is good for the consumer
Genachowski on Why We Need Network Neutrality
Net Neutrality: Trickier Than You Think
Whose Internet is it, anyway?
Designed for Change: End-to-End Arguments, Internet Innovation, and the Net Neutrality Debate
Will FCC pry iPhone loose from AT&T?
NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
Mid-Term Review for the National Broadband Plan
FCC to Focus on Cybersecurity and Diversity During This Week's Broadband Plan Workshops
NBP Workshops By the Numbers
Is broadband a general purpose technology?
FCC Seeks Input on Small Businesses and the National Broadband Plan
FCC Seeks Input on Public Safety, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity
State Regulators Seek Broadband Collection Clarification
THE STIMULUS
Recovery board unveils makeover of stimulus spending Web site
Some broadband projects self-fund without stimulus
INTERNET/BROADBAND
The 'Web Squared' Era
Bill Targeting P2P Slated For Markup
Ignoring RIAA lawsuits cheaper than going to trial
WIRELESS
Spectrum: oxygen of wireless world
Bring Back the Radio Wars
Location tracking on cell phones raises privacy concerns
Smartphones set to become mainstream
Foreign Airlines Ahead of US on Cellphone Use
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
An Incomplete State Secrets Fix
Honduras Shuts Down Media Outlets, Then Relents
Blogger Gets Credit For Blowing Whistle On Vile Poll
National Communications System Provides Programs for Priority Calling
NEWS FROM TPRC
Beer and Broadband Mapping at TPRC
TPRC Panelists Consider Pros and Cons of Alternatives to Internet's Transport Protocol
Success of Fiber to the Home in Japan Spurs Envy Among Telecom Experts
TPRC Panelists Consider Location-Based Privacy and P2P Arms Race
MORE ONLINE ...
NCTA files petition with FCC over pole attachment fees
ACA Asks FCC To Leave Pole Attachment Fee As Is
Who are the next Lickliders?
Online services let cities bypass the mailbox
Disney Tries to Pull the Storybook Ritual Onto the Web
Recent Comments:
Microsoft Differs With AT&T Over Exclusion of Games From Broadband
The FCC's Heavy Hand
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
SENATORS PLAN BILL TO ADVANCE NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
Apparently Sens Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) are considering legislation aimed at helping advance the adoption of new rules on Network Neutrality. Such a bill could be a timetable or deadline for the Federal Communications Commission to finish its rule-making process. The Senators have been a vocal proponents of such rules.
benton.org/node/28281 | Washington Post
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RESPONSE TO AT&T'S LETTER TO FCC ON GOOGLE VOICE
[SOURCE: Google, AUTHOR: Richard Whitt]
AT&T filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission, alleging that Google Voice is preventing its users from making outbound calls to certain phone numbers with inflated access charges, and asking the FCC to intervene. Google agrees with AT&T that the current carrier compensation system is badly flawed, and that the single best answer is for the FCC to take the necessary steps to fix it. Google Voice's goal is to provide consumers with free or low-cost access to as many advanced communications features as possible. In order to do this, Google Voice does restrict certain outbound calls from our Web platform to these high-priced destinations. But despite AT&T's efforts to blur the distinctions between Google Voice and traditional phone service, there are many significant differences: 1) Unlike traditional carriers, Google Voice is a free, Web-based software application, and so not subject to common carrier laws. 2) Google Voice is not intended to be a replacement for traditional phone service -- in fact, you need an existing land or wireless line in order to use it. Importantly, users are still able to make outbound calls on any other phone device.
3) Google Voice is currently invitation-only, serving a limited number of users. AT&T is trying to make this about Google's support for an open Internet, but the comparison just doesn't fly. The FCC's open Internet principles apply only to the behavior of broadband carriers -- not the creators of Web-based software applications. Even though the FCC does not have jurisdiction over how software applications function, AT&T apparently wants to use the regulatory process to undermine Web-based competition and innovation.
benton.org/node/28280 | Google
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WHY AT&T IS FULL OF IT AND WHY GOOGLE VOICE IS GOOD FOR THE CONSUMER
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Yobie Benjamin]
[Commentary] Here's a question -- When did AT&T become the darling consumer friendly telephone company that cares about your privacy and delivered superior and innovative services? Answer: Only in your dreams, you lowly consumer. First of all, the Internet's infrastructure IS different from the telephone infrastructure. Just look at the billing --- AT&T (and all other phone companies) charges consumers by the minute or per message. Can you imagine getting charged by the email message, IM message or per YouTube video stream? AT&T would love to do that. Second, Google Voice is a software application that rides on infrastructure built by other companies. It runs on the Internet protocol. It is NOT a common carrier service. But I can't blame AT&T for arguing this point as they never really understood the difference between an application on the Internet and the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Third, it's a FREE service and consumers that have it love it. It is not intended to be a replacement for traditional telephone service. If you do not have a phone land line or mobile line from AT&T or any other carrier Google Voice does not work. If anything, Google Voice drives more telephone traffic for AT&T. If they want to be competitive, AT&T should build a similar service on PSTN and offer it as a free service but that would just be too consumer friendly. Instead of snarky, whiny complaints, AT&T's statement should have been, "We have been outsmarted and out-innovated again so we would like the consumer to pay for our ineptitude in technology planning and foresight. We want the government to save us again, please."
benton.org/node/28279 | San Francisco Chronicle
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GENACHOWSKI ON WHY WE NEED NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The New Yorker, AUTHOR: Thessaly La force]
A Q&A with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski on Network Neutrality. On why we need net neutrality rules he says, "[W]e have seen some troubling behavior in the marketplace already, and there are a number of factors about the current marketplace that pose questions about future innovation and economic growth. Moreover, business models may develop, or technology may be deployed in the network, that frustrates users and dramatically departs from the Internet's open-architecture roots. Unscrambling the eggs later will be very difficult, if not impossible, if action is not taken to affirmatively choose to safeguard this critical platform for innovation and opportunity."
benton.org/node/28278 | New Yorker, The
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NET NEUTRALITY: TRICKIER THAN YOU THINK
[SOURCE: TheBigMoney.com, AUTHOR: Jonathan Weber]
[Commentary] As is so often the case in telecom policy debates, the combination of genuine technical complexity and massive lobbying efforts by some of the most skilled and well-financed lobbyists in the world sometimes make it hard to discern the real issues at play. It won't be easy for anyone who isn't paid to do so to stay on top of the Network Neutrality debate; there is so much at stake for the big corporate interests that their shouting back and forth is likely to drown out reasoned discussion more often than not. But Weber hopes that small Internet content companies can find a way to take part in the process. In the grand scheme of things, after all, it's nothing less than a life-or-death issue. (Jonathan Weber is the founder, publisher, and CEO of New West, a media company covering life and business in the Rocky Mountain West.)
benton.org/node/28277 | TheBigMoney.com
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DESIGNED FOR CHANGE
[SOURCE: Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, AUTHOR: Richard Bennett]
Many advocates of strict Network Neutrality regulation argue that the Internet has always been a "dumb pipe" and that Congress should require that it remains so. A new report by ITIF Research Fellow Richard Bennett reviews the historical development of the Internet architecture and finds that contrary to such claims, an extraordinarily high degree of intelligence is embedded in the network core. Indeed, the fact that the Internet was originally built to serve the needs of the network research community but has grown into a global platform of commerce and communications was only made possible by continuous and innovative Internet engineering. Bennett traces the development of the Internet architecture from the CYCLADES network in France to the present, highlighting developments that have implications for Internet policy. This review will help both engineers and policy makers separate the essentials from the incidentals, identify challenges to continued evolution, and develop appropriate policy frameworks.
benton.org/node/28275 | Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
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WILL FCC PRY IPHONE LOOSE FROM AT&T?
[SOURCE: NetworkWorld, AUTHOR: John Cox]
[Commentary] If you're wondering whether Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski finally will pry the iPhone from AT&T's cold dead hands and release it into the wild, you're not alone. "Would the proposed net neutrality rules result in a default ban of exclusivity deals?" asks Ryan Radia, information policy analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free enterprise and limited government organization based in Washington (DC). "That would not be the case, based on my understanding of the proposed rules." Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of Media Access Project, a public interest law group in Washington, was quoted this week in a Bloomberg News report as saying, "The iPhone can't be exclusive under a true net neutrality regime." But CEI's Radia says exclusivity may still be possible, provided the agreement doesn't carry provisions that would conflict with whatever the final network neutrality rules might be. "[Deals may be legal] so long as the deals do not prevent a consumer from accessing the content of their choice," he says. But, if Apple and AT&T allowed access to only a subset of applications or services, such a practice would likely be illegal.
benton.org/node/28274 | NetworkWorld
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NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
MID-TERM REVIEW FOR THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Blair Levin]
It's mid-term review time for the broadband team: on Tuesday, with 141 days left to go before the deadline to deliver a National Broadband Plan to Congress, the National Broadband Plan team is providing the Federal Communications Commission with a major status report on the plan. The team will be laying out some specifics of what it has found out about broadband speeds, spectrum and fiber resources, the increasing cost of digital exclusion, and the benefits to the economy and to individual citizens that broadband can provide. Levin writes: "We'll look at the adequacy of the tools available to promote robust, universal broadband — tools such as universal service. We'll be fielding questions about all of this and seeking guidance from the commissioners about whether we're on the right track in our examination as we proceed toward developing recommendations for the plan. We also want the public to weigh on the facts and analysis we will present so we can make adjustments now, while we are still at a relatively early point in the process, rather than later, after decisions have been made."
benton.org/node/28271 | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC TO FOCUS ON CYBERSECURITY AND DIVERSITY
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission will hold two National Broadband Plan workshops this week: 1) How broadband technology can both enhance and challenge the nation's cyber security efforts. Introduced by Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker (Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.). 2) How to create a national broadband plan that recognizes the different needs of a diverse America but also adheres to the core American principal of equal treatment under the law. (Friday at 9:00 a.m.).
benton.org/node/28270 | Federal Communications Commission
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NBP WORKSHOPS BY THE NUMBERS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Blair Levin]
When the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan (NBP) workshops started, some critics immediately concluded that the nature of the participants demonstrated that the FCC just listens to communications industry giants. "If we're going to be criticized now (which we undoubtedly will be)," Levin writes, "the numbers suggest we may be in danger of the critique that we haven't heard from enough industry giants." So far, academics have comprised over 13 percent of all participants at the workshops, followed by consumer and public interest groups (9.3%). The largest industry group was equipment makers, comprising a little over 8% of the participants, followed by alternative wireless services at nearly 6 %. This past week, the FCC had its first field hearings, with more coming. They will certainly tip the scales again toward the public.
benton.org/node/28273 | Federal Communications Commission
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IS BROADBAND A GENERAL PURPOSE TECHNOLOGY?
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Scott Wallsten]
Truly transformational innovations are few and far between. Economists call them "general purpose technologies" (GPTs) and they can affect nearly every aspect of the economy and the way people live. One of the leading scholars on GPTs, Professor Timothy Bresnahan, wrote in 1996 that "GPTs are characterized by pervasiveness (they are used as inputs by many downstream sectors), inherent potential for technical improvements, and innovational complementarities', meaning that the productivity of R&D in downstream sectors increases as a consequence of innovation in the GPT. Thus, as GPTs improve they spread throughout the economy, bringing about generalized productivity gains." Scholars generally agree that the list in modern history includes electricity, the steam engine, and perhaps the semiconductor. What about broadband? Some have argued that information technology in general is a GPT, in which case broadband might be just an important component of a GPT. Why does any of this matter? For at least two reasons. First, a GPT may have very large effects throughout the economy, but those effects can be exceedingly difficult to measure. Second, adoption of GPTs makes us much better off as a society, but we have to recognize that some groups lose out. Thus, if broadband is a GPT then we should expect continued radical change in our economy and in the way we live. The transition won't be comfortable for everyone, but among our tasks as we develop the national broadband plan is to understand how broadband affects the economy and society and how the country can take advantage of the opportunities it presents and make the transformation a positive one for sectors like health care, education, and energy.
benton.org/node/28272 | Federal Communications Commission
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FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISADVANTAGED BUSINESSES IN THE AGE OF BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking public comment specific comment regarding the ability of Small and Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs) to incorporate broadband technology into their business models. The FCC has ten questions: a) What percentage of SDBs currently use broadband? What are the current speeds and prices of these services? What applications are being run over these connections? b) What obstacles prevent SDBs from taking advantage of broadband technology: (i) lack of available broadband; (ii) lack of affordable broadband or budgetary constraints; (iii) digital literacy concerns; or (iv) social/cultural considerations? Please comment on these or any other obstacles. c) For SDBs in traditional businesses that may not yet rely on broadband, such as car repair shops, dry-cleaners, bodega owners, and tool and die makers, how can broadband improve their businesses? Please provide specific examples and data where available. What needs to be done to encourage such businesses to utilize broadband technology? d) Are there data regarding how many new jobs have been created when SDBs take advantage of broadband? What is the impact of broadband adoption on SDB productivity and innovation? How do these data vary across sectors? e) What role should institutions such as the Federal Communications Commission, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Labor, local Chambers of Commerce, community colleges and other community organizations play in ensuring that SDBs take better advantage of broadband technology? f) What challenges do SDBs owned by limited-English speakers face in using broadband technology? g) As government rolls out broadband stimulus funds to reach unserved and underserved communities and as broadband construction occurs generally, how do we ensure that SDBs are able to participate in the construction process and benefit from that construction? h) How do we ensure that SDBs participate as information and content providers on the Internet? i) How can public/private partnerships assist the growth of SDBs and their use of broadband technology? Please provide specific examples. Should the Commission facilitate creation of public-private partnerships for this purpose? j) What else should the National Broadband Plan include specifically to assist SDBs? Comments are due November 2, 2009.
benton.org/node/28269 | Federal Communications Commission
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ADDITIONAL COMMENT SOUGHT ON PUBLIC SAFETY, HOMELAND SECURITY, AND CYBERSECURITY ELEMENTS OF NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking additional comment on specific issues as it develops a National Broadband Plan. These issues include: Public Safety Mobile Wireless Broadband Networks; Next Generation 911; Cyber security; and Alerting. Comments are due November 12, 2009.
benton.org/node/28268 | Federal Communications Commission
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STATE REGULATORS SEEK BROADBAND DATA COLLECTION CLARIFICATION
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, in a request for clarification, is asking the Federal Communications Commission to clarify that nothing the agency has done limits states' authority to collect broadband data from infrastructure providers like cable operators. NARUC said that some states' efforts to collect data on areas served, unserved, or underserved by broadband "have been frustrated by reliance on voluntary responses." It pointed to various cases involving cable modem or DSL services in which the FCC concluded that combined data and Internet services "should exist in a minimally regulated environment." NARUC said, "There is no question that Congress wants states to have this data. A declaratory ruling -- specifying only that no FCC order or regulation currently limits state authority to collect any data from any broadband infrastructure or service provider -- will clear up any remaining ambiguity over the scope of existing state authority and facilitate state mapping, and other deployment initiatives."
benton.org/node/28267 | Multichannel News
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THE STIMULUS
THE NEW RECOVERY.GOV
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Aliya Sternstein]
Government-appointed watchdogs debuted on Monday the much-anticipated overhaul of Recovery.gov, featuring sophisticated pictorial representations of spending data, advanced search functions, multimedia tutorials and some downloads. The upgrade does not include new stimulus results, such as jobs statistics, which will be funneled into the site later in October. The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board intends the site to be a window into the Obama administration's economic recovery effort and has the expectation that the public -- concerned citizens, academia, journalists, agencies, states, recipients, Congress and special interest groups -- will visit the site to learn more about how the $787 billion in stimulus funds are being spent. The site represents 10 weeks of work by a team of vendors that were awarded a potential $18 million contract on July 8. Stimulus contracts granted by federal agencies will not appear until Oct. 15, and information reported by the private sector and states will not be posted until Oct. 30. But board officials said they wanted the public to learn and test out the new features before then.
benton.org/node/28265 | nextgov
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SOME BROADBAND PROJECTS SELF-FUNDED WITHOUT STIMULUS
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Ed Gubbins]
As broadband stimulus applicants vie for federal funding, plenty of government entities across the country are moving ahead with public/private partnerships that extend broadband without the need for grant money from the federal government. In New York State, for example, where 140 broadband stimulus projects were proposed seeking more than $1 billion (only California asked for more), one county expects to finish building a five-city fiber network around the time that stimulus recipients are getting their projects underway.
benton.org/node/28266 | TelephonyOnline
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
THE 'WEB SQUARED' ERA
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Tim O'Reilly, Jennifer Pahlka]
[Commentary] Web Squared is less a new direction than an exploration of what becomes possible when the building blocks of Web 2.0 (such as participation, collective intelligence and so on) increase by orders of magnitude. There's also a qualitative change happening as the Web becomes more closely integrated with the real world via sensor-based smart phone applications. Web Squared is another way of saying "Web meets World." The first generation of Web 2.0 applications harnessed the collective intelligence of users typing on keyboards. Whether it was links and clicks (Google), articles and edits of shared knowledge (Wikipedia) or votes (Digg), the application was driven by explicit human actions. Five years in, collective intelligence applications are increasingly driven by cascades of sensor data being thrown off by devices, often without explicit human intervention. Today's smartphones contain microphones and cameras, as well as motion, proximity, location, and direction sensors. They have their own eyes, ears, and sense of touch. Revolutionary new applications connect those senses to cloud databases and programs running on massive server farms. Where the Web Squared world gets really interesting, though, is when applications use all the senses of a device, coordinating them much like the human brain coordinates our senses, to draw conclusions that would be difficult with one sense alone.
benton.org/node/28262 | Forbes.com
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BILL TARGETING P2P SLATED FOR MARKUP
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The House Commerce Committee will mark up the Informed P2P User Act (HR 1319), a bill that seeks to protect computer users from unauthorized peer-to-peer file-sharing. The bill would establish the unauthorized use of a computer by a P2P program to be an unfair and deceptive act. Unauthorized use would include failing to inform computer users that their computers were being used as part of the file-uploading network. Computer owners would also have to give "informed consent" before their computers could be used for P2P file sharing. The bill's sponsors include Reps Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Joe Barton (R-TX) and John Barrow (D-GA). Rep Bono Mack's constituents include Hollywood studios concerned about the sharing of pirated films and TV shows via the P2P protocol, which translates the power of multiple computers into faster downloads of big files like video.
benton.org/node/28258 | Broadcasting&Cable
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IGNORING RIAA LAWSUITS CHEAPER THAN GOING TO TRIAL
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Nate Anderson]
Nancy Gertner, the same federal judge who oversaw the Joel Tenenbaum file-sharing trial earlier this year, passed out default judgments this week against other file-swappers who never bothered to show up—and they now owe far less than Tenenbaum.
benton.org/node/28257 | Ars Technica
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WIRELESS
SPECTRUM: OXYGEN OF THE WIRELESS WORLD
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
[Commentary] To understand that the mobile industry is at a pivotal moment, walk into a provider's store and look at the handsets on display. It's difficult to find one that doesn't tout its ability to access the Web, testimony to the fact that we are transitioning to a world of ubiquitous, mobile Internet access. As part of this shifting landscape, wireless devices are becoming more than just phones — they are becoming pocket computers. This is a great for consumers. But the explosive demand for wireless innovation is testing the limits of a fundamental resource: spectrum. It is the oxygen of the wireless world — fueling every aspect of our mobile broadband ecosystem. As more and more consumers use their wireless devices to watch and send videos, listen to Internet radio, send pictures, and test out the latest innovative application, the airwaves are growing increasingly crowded. To sustain the rapid pace of wireless growth and enable the next generation of mobile innovation, we must maximize the use of our nation's spectrum.
benton.org/node/28264 | Hill, The
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BRING BACK THE RADIO WARS
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Jeffrey Belk]
The enthusiasm in Silicon Valley over the growth of mobile broadband and mobile applications is palpable these days, but there's one thing missing: an understanding of how the underlying network affects both the physical hardware and the way applications run. What we need is the return of the Radio Wars, those loud and acrimonious battles over exactly how we're going to get our gigabytes of mobile data from Point A to Point B. Today it seems that LTE as a foregone conclusion has convinced people that there's no longer a need to have debates around radio link budgets and "bits per hertz," as if by ignoring technical realities somehow makes those realities disappear. Worse, discussion about network design, latency, and consumer experience are often drowned out by companies — big and small — that, coming from a PC or "Web 2.0" perspective, have a blatant disregard for the complexity of making all this stuff work. (Jeffrey Belk is Managing Director of ICT168 Capital, which advises and invests in emerging and growing companies in the information, communications and technology space.)
benton.org/node/28263 | GigaOm
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LOCATION TRACKING ON CELL PHONES RAISES PRIVACY CONCERNS
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Troy Wolverton]
[Commentary] All new cell phones can track a person's geographic location. Government regulators required the features as a safety measure to help authorities find individuals in the case of an emergency. But software developers have been able to use that geographic data for many purposes other than just emergencies. Thanks to their efforts, many phones these days can provide turn-by-turn directions, show you the nearest supermarket or track your latest bike ride. Such capabilities have caught the eye of marketers and corporations, many of whom have started to build location-based applications for the iPhone and other devices. Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Bank of America and other retailers offer smart-phone applications that can tell users the location of their nearest store, allow them to place an order and even pay for the order using their phone. But that's just the first step. Marketers are particularly excited about being able to target ads at particular consumers based on their geographic location. Imagine getting an ad on your phone from Starbucks offering you $1 off your favorite drink right as you are walking by a Starbucks shop. Or imagine getting discount offers from area restaurants when you check into a hotel. Marketers argue that such ads would be mutually beneficial for companies and consumers, allowing companies to offer consumers marketing information when it's most pertinent to them. But privacy advocates such as John Morris, general counsel of the Center for Democracy and Technology, worry that such location-based services are ripe for abuse.
benton.org/node/28284 | San Jose Mercury News
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SMARTPHONES SET TO BECOME MAINSTREAM
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Robin Kwong]
Smartphones have until now been positioned as a premium product within the handset market. And such has been the demand for BlackBerrys and iPhones that, even in the global economic downturn, smartphone sales remained one of the few bright spots within the handset market. But over the next few months an array of new models from a variety of phonemakers, including some new entrants, is due to hit the market. The new entrants aim to bridge the pricing gap between smartphones and standard feature phones and bring the more powerful product to the mass market. According to Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner, overall handset sales are expected to shrink by 4 per cent this year compared to last year, while smartphone sales are forecast to grow by more than 20 per cent. Analysts say the expansion of the smartphone market will turn a fast-growing but relatively small sector into a more significant contributor to global handset sales volumes. Meanwhile, existing smartphone makers have been able to lower their cost of production since Apple's initial iPhone thanks to smaller and more sophisticated chips.
benton.org/node/28283 | Financial Times
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FOREIGN AIRLINES AHEAD OF US ON CELLPHONE USE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Joe Sharkey]
Cellphone use on airplanes, it would seem, is on extended hold in the United States. The national union representing flight attendants wants Congress to ban in-flight phone calls, and survey after survey of airline passengers shows strong opposition to allowing cellphones on planes. So while domestic airlines rush to wire their cabins to provide in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity, there is no indication whether, or when, passengers in the United States might be able to make a cellphone call at 37,000 feet. In much of the rest of the world, meanwhile, passengers on various foreign airlines are already routinely using cellphones and other personal wireless devices to make and receive calls in flight. Industry officials say cellphones can be used on more than 15,000 flights a month.
benton.org/node/28282 | New York Times
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
AN INCOMPLETE STATE SECRETS FIX
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] One of the ways that the Bush administration tried to avoid accountability for its serious misconduct in the name of fighting terrorism was the misuse of an evidentiary rule called the state secrets privilege. The Obama administration has essentially embraced the Bush approach in existing cases, trying to toss out important lawsuits alleging kidnapping, torture and unlawful wiretapping without any evidence being presented. The other day, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. issued new guidelines for invoking the state secrets privilege in the future. They were a positive step forward, on paper, but did not go nearly far enough. Mr. Holder's much-anticipated reform plan does not include any shift in the Obama administration's demand for blanket secrecy in pending cases. Nor does it include support for legislation that would mandate thorough court review of state secrets claims made by the executive branch.
benton.org/node/28289 | New York Times
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HONDURAS SHUTS DOWN MEDIA OUTLETS, THEN RELENTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Elisabeth Malkin, Ginger Thompson]
In Honduras, the de facto government backed off Monday from its attempt to shut down protests and limit free speech after congressional leaders warned that they would not support the measure. The revolt by Congress, the first public fracture in the coalition that ousted President Manuel Zelaya three months ago, showed that the de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, faces limits on his power to crack down on dissent. In an extraordinary televised news conference Monday evening, Mr. Micheletti asked for "forgiveness from the Honduran people" and said he would ask the Supreme Court to lift the decree "as quickly as possible." But the government's reversal came on the same day that the United States sent mixed messages about the crisis, comments that critics said could embolden the coup-imposed government.
benton.org/node/28288 | New York Times | CSM
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BLOGGER GETS CREDIT FOR BLOWING WHISTLE ON VILE POLL
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Mark Memmott]
The Political Carnival is getting credit for calling out the ridiculous "Should Obama be killed?" poll that showed up on Facebook over the weekend (and is now being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service).
benton.org/node/28287 | National Public Radio
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NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM
[SOURCE: Government Accountability Office, AUTHOR: William Jenkins Jr]
Government functions and effective disaster response and management rely on the ability of national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) personnel to communicate. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Communications System (NCS), is responsible for ensuring continuity of NS/EP communications when network congestion or damage occurs. As requested, GAO assessed the (1) priority communication programs NCS provides, how it enlists subscribers, and to what extent NCS controls access to these programs; (2) challenges that can affect delivery of these programs; and (3) extent to which NCS plans for and evaluates its services. Among other things, GAO recommends the Manager of NCS (1) define program capabilities, costs, and mitigation plans as part of NCS's acquisition planning for enhanced NS/EP communications services; (2) incorporate strategic planning best practices as NCS finalizes its strategic plan; and (3) strengthen NCS's performance measurement. (GAO-09-822)
benton.org/node/28254 | Government Accountability Office | GAO
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