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December 2009

Comments Sought on Rural Health Care Pilot Program Extension

On November 2, 2009, the Wireline Competition Bureau issued a public notice seeking comment on a filing by the North Carolina TeleHealth Network (NCTN) requesting an extension of the June 30, 2010 deadline for funding commitment requests under the universal service Rural Health Care Pilot Program (Pilot Program). Extension requests similar to the one filed by NCTN have been filed by the Oregon Health Network (OHN), the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), Arkansas Telehealth Network (ATN), the New England Telehealth Consortium (NETC), Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center (R-AHEC), Michigan Public Health Institute (MPHI), and Health Information Exchange of Montana (HIEM). NCTN's filing will be treated as a request for a one year extension for all participants in the Pilot Program. The extension requests filed by OHN, ANTHC, ATN, NETC, R-AHEC, MPHI and HIEM will be treated as ex parte comments in the open proceeding initiated by the NCTN filing. Any similar filings will also be treated as ex parte comments on the pending extension request proceeding.

FCC Delays Application Window for Low Power TV

The Media Bureau announces that the initiation of nationwide first-come, first-served, digital-only licensing for low power television (LPTV) and TV translator stations scheduled to begin January 25, 2010, is hereby postponed to July 26, 2010. The Bureau believes that a postponement of the January 25, 2010 date for nationwide licensing is necessary to complete the processing of applications that have been filed for rural areas since August 25, 2009, and to allow interested parties additional time to prepare applications for the remainder of the United States. Furthermore, postponement will permit Commission staff to dedicate additional time and resources for consideration of the Broadband Plan.

Almost $490 Million Unused from DTV Coupon Funding

Apparently, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration wound up not using almost the exact amount of extra funding provided in the stimulus package for DTV-to-analog converter box coupons -- $490 million. That doesn't mean, however, that the agency didn't need the money as an insurance policy after Congress failed to change the accounting rules on the DTV bill establishing the program. NTIA has returned to the Treasury $241.6 million left over from the DTV-to-analog coupon program. That money has been divided up by Congress and applied to HR 3326, the just-passed Defense appropriations bill ($128 million), and HR 2847, a jobs bill ($111 million) that is technically an appropriations bill for Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies (NTIA is part of the Commerce Department). But another $250 million is left over from the original $1.34 billion funding as well. NTIA was free to return the unused $240 million in coupon funding it received from the stimulus package. But because of the way the original bill allocating the $1.34 billion for the subsidy was written, anything left over from that funding goes into a DTV public safety fund, which is not NTIA's to give back. While it may seem like that extra $490 million turned out to be unnecessary, it was actually crucial to keeping the program going because the original bill didn't allow NTIA to access funds until coupons expired and the money was freed up. That caused a backlog of millions of coupons early last year as NTIA waited for coupons to expire, a backlog that was cleared up with the extra stimulus funds. It does suggest, however, that a proposed legislative effort that would have changed the accounting rules on the first bill in order to free up that initial funding would have essentially covered the program.

Court Tells Microsoft to Edit Word

Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, must alter its popular Word software or stop selling the product after it lost its appeal of a $200 million patent-infringement verdict won by a Canadian company. Microsoft was given until Jan. 11 — five months from the original order issued in August — to make the change by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington. Word is part of Microsoft's Office software, used by more than 500 million people. The court today upheld a verdict which has since grown to $290 million won by closely held I4i LP of Toronto. The dispute is over a patented invention related to customizing extensible markup language, or XML, a way of encoding data to exchange information among programs. Microsoft has called it an "obscure functionality."

Health IT panel awaits public comment on standards rules

When the public gets its chance to comment on upcoming meaningful use rules, an advisory health IT panel will know if they got the standards piece of the entitlement package right. The Health IT Standards Committee will weigh those comments before producing final recommendations for 2011 meaningful use requirements to the Office for the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), said John Halamka, vice chairman of the committee, at its final meeting for the year. "The comments that follow release of the meaningful use rule will guide the committee if they need to revise them," he said. "We won't know what is simple and good enough until the regulation comes out." Halamka is also chief information officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. ONC is expected to publish an interim final rule on certification standards for meaningful use by the end of the month. In the meantime, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will separately propose rules defining meaningful use and provider eligibility for incentives under the HITECH Act. In a wrap-up of its standards work Dec. 18, Halamka said the committee tried to walk a middle course by recommending standards that were general enough that small and large organizations could incorporate them but which still meet health IT requirements under the health IT stimulus law.

Ten Ways Social Media Changed Our Thinking in 2009

In many ways social media managed to change our thinking about what happened, what's going on, and how the world's changing.

Howard Schmidt: What They Say

How are people reacting to President Barack Obama picking Howard Schmidt to be his cybersecurity advisor?

Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Sen Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), a senior member of the Committee, said Schmidt "brings the technical expertise and the depth of private sector and governmental experience needed for this important job." But they also cautioned: "We remain concerned that this cybersecurity coordinator position, even filled by a leader like Schmidt, still does not possess the institutional heft that it needs. That's why we introduced legislation last spring that will create a Cabinet-level, Senate confirmed National Cybersecurity Adviser within the White House who will report directly to the President. Our legislation is based on the statute that created the U.S. Trade Representative. We believe that cybersecurity is an issue that cuts across all agencies of government and every sector of the U.S. economy, and our national and economic security calls for powerful leadership from the White House."

James Lewis, director of the technology and public policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "I think it's a good move. The administration has started a lot of initiatives on cyber Defense Department, Homeland Security Department, State Department -- and they need someone to make sure it all fits together. They also need to rewrite the National Cyber Strategy, and having someone to honcho that process and avoid recycling old ideas will be the big challenge."

More at http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2009/12/cyber_gurus_react_to_coordinator_...

Don't throw out all old-media values

[Commentary] The toughest challenges facing the news business may have more to do with values than finances. There's reason for optimism about its economic future. The appetite for fact-based reporting and topical commentary is keener than ever, and the number of people with the skill and desire to feed it is greater than ever. Demand is high, supply is high, the economic fundamentals are solid. Even the business uncertainties causing so much heartache right now -- how this new news industry will pay its bills -- is solvable. It won't be tidy and it won't be tomorrow, but some layered blend will emerge of direct payment and subsidy via advertising, NPR-type fundraising, profit-making spinoffs, offline activities and sweat equity from pro-am journalists working on the cheap. News will survive. Whether it'll be good and whether it'll do good -- that's what the public should worry about. The damage isn't done by the new tools, but by the old villain of market calculation, the belief that haste pays, that racy and sensational disclosures drive traffic and now, if they're incorrect or one-sided, actually increase interactivity. Getting it first trumps getting it right. Funny, that's something the corrupt old press barons believed too.

Clearer Picture Emerges on Stimulus's IT Funding

Over the past few weeks, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has released key updates about available funding to advance health IT adoption, including changes to an existing funding program and the announcement of a new initiative. First, the Health IT Regional Extension Center Program cycles have been consolidated and available funding has been increased. Second, ONC unveiled the health IT "Beacon Communities" program, which aims to strengthen community-based health IT infrastructures and health information exchange capabilities. Both programs were established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Through these and other initiatives, ONC seeks to ensure wide-scale adoption and effective implementation of health IT applications nationwide to ultimately improve the quality and efficiency of health care delivery.

Dec 22, 2009 (Obama Names Cybersecurity Coordinator)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY DECEMBER 22, 2009

** Planning a communications-related course for 2010? See http://bit.ly/5N8VHA to learn how Headlines might help. **


CYBERSECURITY
   Obama names Howard Schmidt cybersecurity coordinator
    See also:Drone Breach Stirs Calls to Fill Cyber Post
   Commerce Department gets funds to combat cyber espionage

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   China to require Internet domain name registration
   Russians on New Domains
   Policy Forum on Public Access to Federally Funded Research: Features and Technology

JOURNALISM
   Sunday morning TV talk shows need to break color barrier
   Think Tanks and the Reporters Who Heart Them
   The Future of Television Journalism?
   US Economy Tops AP's List As Top News Story of 2009
   Glenn Beck is 2009 Misinformer of the Year

WIRELESS
   AT&T Mulls Plans to Deal with iPhone Data Demand
   IPhone apps: A launch point for a new wave of tech giants?
   App army promises new tech revolution
   Should Motorola And Sony Ericsson Merge?
   Mobile core wars

NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN & THE STIMULUS
   FCC Gets More Broadband Info
   The Rise of the Middle Mile in Obama's Theory of Broadband Stimulus
   The Media Bureau v. The National Broadband Plan
   Could Stimulus Grants Be about the Path of Least Resistance?

MORE ON BROADBAND/INTERNET
   Latinos Online, 2006-2008
   European Rules Aim to Accelerate EU's Broadband Take Rate
   Google's creed: 'Open will win'

CONTENT
   US hails "big win" versus China film barriers
   DC Gives Hollywood A Little Holiday Pick Me Up To Show They Care — With A Surprise SOC Ending

HEALTH
   CCHIT certifies more EHRs for meaningful use
   NIST seeks firms to analyze health IT standards

POLICYMAKERS
   Susan Crawford and the Spirit of Cincinatus
   Chief Of The Year: Vivek Kundra

MORE ONLINE ...
   AT&T Hiking U-verse TV, Internet, Voice Rates
   Sam Zell Must Face Tribune Employees' Lawsuit Over Pension Plan

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CYBERSECURITY

SCHMIDT TO BE CYBERSECURITY COORDINATOR
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama will name Howard A. Schmidt hiss new White House Cybersecurity Coordinator. Schmidt was also a cyber-adviser in President George W. Bush's White House. The mission is challenging: to coordinate cybersecurity policy across the federal government, from the military to civilian agencies. Schmidt's appointment comes as the Pentagon launches a major new "cyber-command" unit up and running and the Department of Homeland Security works to improve protection of civilian networks. The new coordinator, who does not require Senate confirmation, will report to deputy national security adviser John O. Brennan and will "work closely with and collaborate with" the economic council on cyber-issues, the administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the choice was not yet official.
benton.org/node/30791 | Washington Post | WSJ | USAToday | NYTimes | White House
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COMMERCE GETS FUNDED TO COMBAT CYBER ESPIONAGE
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Jill Aitoro]
Funds appropriated for the Commerce Department last week include $10 million for an initiative to combat cyber espionage, including efforts by foreign criminals and enemy nations to hack into a computer system that tracks smuggling of weapons of mass destruction and other dangerous goods. The 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which President Obama signed into law Dec. 16, includes more than $100 million for Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, which regulates the export of sensitive goods and technologies, and enforces export control regulations. The bureau's budget includes $10 million for the Cyber Espionage Response Initiative, to fund an increase in cybersecurity personnel and security enhancements to computer systems that maintain sensitive data about international trade, including illegal export activities.
benton.org/node/30765 | nextgov
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

CHINA INTERNET DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Lucy Hornby, Yu Le]
China has issued new Internet regulations, including what appears to be an effort to create a "whitelist" of approved websites that could potentially place much of the Internet off-limits to Chinese readers. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ordered domain management institutions and Internet service providers to tighten control over domain name registration, in a three-phase plan laid out on its website late on Sunday. "Domain names that have not registered will not be resolved or transferred," MIIT said, in an action plan to "further deepen" an ongoing anti-pornography campaign that has resulted in significant tightening of Chinese Internet controls. Only allowing Chinese viewers to access sites registered on a whitelist would give Chinese authorities much greater control, but would also block millions of completely innocuous sites.
benton.org/node/30786 | Reuters
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JOURNALISM

SUNDAY MORNING COLOR LINE
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: DeWayne Wickham]
[Commentary] None of the major Sunday morning talk shows currently features a minority host, so as ABC's This Week looks to replace George Stephanopoulos, there's a push to target a qualified African-American to fill the slot and to help frame the perception and coverage of issues that have a substantial impact on the American public. In a perfect world, picking a black journalist to replace Stephanopoulos would be a no-brainer. It's hard to find anyone with a thicker résumé — or a more commanding presence on television — than Gwen Ifill, the supernova of PBS' crop of journalists. Ifill is both moderator and managing editor of Washington Week, and she doubles as senior correspondent on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
benton.org/node/30787 | USAToday
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THINK TANKS AND THE REPORTERS WHO LOVE THEM
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Nathan Hodge]
Print is dying, newsrooms are shrinking and the media industry is generally in the toilet. The relationship between reporters and think-tanks, at least in the national-security arena, is starting to shift. Think tanks are starting to become full-time patrons of the news business, and they are bankrolling book projects, blogs and even war reporting. The Center for a New American Security, for instance, has funded a string of first-rate defense reporters through its Writers in Residence Program. The latest launch: The Fourth Star, by Washington Post reporter Greg Jaffe and former New York Times reporter David Cloud. CNAS also signed up New York Times reporters Thom Shanker and Eric Schmitt to work on a joint book project, titled Counterstrike. Longtime Post reporter Tom Ricks, who published The Gamble this year, is a senior fellow at CNAS. (Ricks worked on Fiasco, his previous bestseller, while in residence at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.)It makes economic sense. Tightfisted newspaper publishers aren't too generous with book leave these days; management keeps cutting bureaus and scaling back travel budgets; and who wouldn't jump at a writer-in-residence gig, especially when the bean-counters are pressuring reporters to take buyouts? But what does this mean for journalism? When think tanks are often a revolving door for government service, what happens when reporters who become office-mates of past or future political appointees? How do you keep national security reporting from becoming an echo chamber of the Beltway policy elite? It's hard enough giving objective analysis of some policy maven's ideas, after you two have shared a few cocktails together. Now imagine how much tougher that becomes, when the policy maven is in the next cubicle over. Awkwaaaard!
benton.org/node/30763 | Wired
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THE FUTURE OF TELEVISION JOURNALISM?
[SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun, AUTHOR: Chris Kaltenbach]
WMAR's decision to shrink its newsroom and have its remaining reporters, photographers and selected other personnel double and even triple their responsibilities - in some cases writing, reporting, photographing and editing stories themselves instead of handing them off to others - might prove to be the wave of the future for all TV news operations. Although WMAR is the first Baltimore station to focus on what is known in the industry as MMJs (multimedia journalists), they have become the norm in many cities as local TV stations struggle with declining budgets and ad revenue as well as increasing competition from other media. And while officials at Baltimore's other TV news operations say they do not intend to follow WMAR's lead exactly, industry experts see such journalistic multitasking as practically inevitable.
benton.org/node/30762 | Baltimore Sun, The
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US ECONOMY TOPS AP'S LIST OF TOP 2009 STORIES
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: ]
The convoluted American economy — restoring windfalls to a lucky few while leaving millions jobless and distraught — was the top news story of 2009, followed closely by the inauguration of President Barack Obama, according to U.S. editors and news directors voting in The Associated Press' annual poll. Rounding out the top ten: Health care, the auto industry, swine flu, Afghanistan, Michael Jackson's death, the Fort Hood shootings, the passing of Sen Edward Kennedy (D-MA), and the emergency landing of a commercial jet on the Hudson River.
benton.org/node/30761 | Associated Press
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BECK'S WINNING 2009
[SOURCE: Media Matters for America, AUTHOR: ]
Glenn Beck's well of ridiculous was deep and poisonous before he launched his Fox News show, but the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States -- and the permissive cheerleading of his Fox News honchos -- uncorked the former Morning Zoo shock jock's unique brand of vitriol, stage theatrics, and hyperbolic fright, making him an easy choice for Media Matters' 2009 Misinformer of the Year. When he wasn't calling the president a racist, portraying progressive leaders as vampires who can only be stopped by "driv[ing] a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers," or pushing the legitimacy of seceding from the country, Beck obsessively compared Democrats in Washington to Nazis and fascists and "the early days of Adolf Hitler." He wondered, "Is this where we're headed," while showing images of Hitler, Stalin, and Lenin; decoded the secret language of Marxists; and compared the government to "heroin pushers" who were "using smiley-faced fascism to grow the nanny state." Like his predecessor, Beck spat on scruples, frequently announcing his goal to get administration officials fired. He increasingly acted not as a media figure, but as the head of a political movement, while helping to bring fringe conspiracies of a one-world government into the national discourse. And he all too frequently helped to set the mainstream media's agenda.
benton.org/node/30772 | Media Matters for America
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WIRELESS

AT&T MULLS PLANS TO DEAL WITH DATA DEMAND
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Peter Burrows]
AT&T Mobility President Ralph de la Vega says the company is knee-deep in a market research project that asks consumers in focus groups to give their opinions on a range of potential tactics to free up network bandwidth for Apple iPhone users and other AT&T subscribers. AT&T wants to craft "incentives" that would compel iPhone owners to reduce demands on the company's overworked 3G cellular network. The most obvious solution is to get them to switch to wireless Wi-Fi networks whenever possible. Wi-Fi access points, found everywhere from customers' homes to coffee shops, move bits of information directly to a wired broadband Internet connection. That's cheaper than transmitting the bits to a cell tower, as 3G does. Cell towers get swamped when as few as a dozen nearby iPhone users simultaneously try to watch a YouTube clip or play a game. "Two years ago, all the carriers thought Wi-Fi was a threat" to their cellular networks, says Marc Lowenstein, a consultant who used to run marketing for Verizon Wireless. "Now it's a lifeline." It's a lifeline that AT&T plans to use heavily.
benton.org/node/30790 | BusinessWeek
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APPS TO CREATE NEW TECH GIANTS?
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Todd Woody]
There are hordes of people writing tens of thousands of apps that transform the iPhone into things as varied as a pinball machine and a flashlight. Some apps become moneymakers. Others go virtually unnoticed and disappear into the backroom of Apple's App Store, never to be downloaded again. But some Silicon Valley venture capitalists and start-ups see the iPhone as more than a cash machine -- to them, it's the platform on which to build the next generation of big tech companies. "I absolutely think there will be large public companies built around this ecosystem," said Matt Murphy, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has been an early investor in some of the tech industry's biggest success stories, including Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and Netscape Communications. Murphy runs Kleiner Perkins' $100-million iFund, which was created in collaboration with Apple to invest in start-ups developing apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Two recent deals signaled the payday potential of the mobile app market. Google acquired mobile advertising company AdMob Inc. for $750 million in stock. And video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. bought Playfish Inc. -- a start-up that made games for social networks like Facebook as well as for the iPhone -- in a deal valued at up to $400 million. Although AdMob and Playfish did not focus solely on iPhone apps, their acquisition reflected a maturing mobile market, Murphy said.
benton.org/node/30789 | Los Angeles Times
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APP TECH REVOLUTION
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Joseph Menn]
App sales are booming at a time when corporations are cutting tech spending and consumers are pinching pennies. Indeed, veteran industry executives, investors and analysts are calling the shift to Internet-capable devices and the apps that run on them a once-a-decade leap in technology, on a par with the great personal computing boom of the 1980s and the debut of the World Wide Web in the 1990s. No company is more central to the shift towards the mobile Internet than Apple, which enjoys a wide lead in distributing applications. More than 100,000 apps are available on its App Store and more than 2bn have been downloaded in less than a year and a half. To keep that gusher flowing, Apple has sought to inspire more outsider developers with the rare rags-to-riches stories - like that of Steve Demeter, a bank programmer who earned $250,000 in two months of 2008 after launching a simple game called Trism. But just as many from the front lines of the dot-com revolution were left on the battlefield, not all of those writing for the tiny screen will make it big.
benton.org/node/30788 | Financial Times
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SHOULD MOTOROLA AND SONY ERICSSON MERGE?
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Paul Sharma]
[Commentary] view of Motorola's and Sony Ericsson's low global handset market share - less than 5% each - shouldn't they merge? The geographies work: Sony Ericsson has a decent market share in Europe (12.4%), Motorola has a good share of the U.S. (17.3%), Sony Ericsson does OK in India (10%), while Motorola is fine in China (10%). Sanford Bernstein estimates, that by merging, the companies could reduce operating costs by 10%. But there may be another factor: Next year, there will be a whole new raft of phones based on Google's Android operating system. Android has only been up and running commercially since the summer and is a long way behind Apple Inc.'s iPhone by any metric. But only around a dozen handsets have been available so far and around 30 more are expected next year, many of which will come from Asian suppliers. It would be fair to expect a widening of the Android product range to appeal to different pockets, depending on the graphics cards, accelerometers, GPS, touch screens and keyboards on the device. The general expectation is that they will appeal more to the mid-market than the high-end market. The Android system also differs from Apple as it is a more open ecosystem, with less control of the applications. Not the same as the old 'walled garden versus Internet debate' of a few years ago, but with enough elements for commentators to draw comparisons. While walled-garden approaches tend to be short-to-medium term winners due to the ease of integration and use, open systems have always eventually taken over. The upshot is that while Motorola has its Droid, and it's likely Sony Ericsson will soon have Android phones as well, they will be competing against a raft of new handsets all of which will be utilizing the same operating system.
benton.org/node/30776 | Wall Street Journal
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MOBILE CORE WARS
[SOURCE: TelephonyOnline, AUTHOR: Kevin Fitchard]
The mobile packet core is emerging as the new battleground in wireless, pitting the big mobile vendors against a new generation of specialty core suppliers. The 4G mobile core isn't just an ancillary component to the network anymore. Its role in the wireless network is not only becoming more prominent as networks migrate to all-IP architectures and the sheer volume of network data exponentially multiplies, the 4G core is now becoming a key point of differentiation for wireless vendors. The highly standardized nature of the long-term evolution (LTE) and WiMax architectures makes it hard to distinguish between the major vendors' radio access portfolios, but in the 4G core those differences are becoming quite pronounced. Philosophical camps are emerging, pitting the relative importance of the data plane versus the control plane. Vendors have adopted wildly different development strategies, some focused on evolving existing 3G architectures for 4G, while others start from scratch. Perhaps there no is bigger evidence of the growing importance of the mobile core than the sudden spurt of acquisition activity in recent months.
benton.org/node/30775 | TelephonyOnline
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NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN & THE STIMULUS

FCC GETS MORE BROADBAND INFO
[SOURCE: CongressDaily, AUTHOR: Juliana Gruenwald]
Although Washington (DC) took Monday off to dig out, Federal Communications Commission staff were in Chicago to hear about how connecting small businesses and helping them use broadband at speeds sufficient for various applications is crucial to the national broadband plan. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski was on hand and heard panelists say broadband benefits small businesses by lowering costs -- particularly start-up costs, increasing service efficiency, fostering collaborative work including between remote locations, enhancing skills training, and providing businesses access to wider markets. Panelists also cited cost, lack of education, and bandwidth deficiency as some of the reasons why small businesses have not embraced broadband more widely. Norma Reyes, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, said one of the key ways to spur wider adoption is to work closely with organizations in local communities to help combat the "fear" of adoption.
benton.org/node/30782 | CongressDaily | Chairman Genachowski | Broadcasting&Cable
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THE RISE OF THE MIDDLE MILE IN OBAMA'S THEORY OF BROADBAND STIMULUS
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Drew Clark]
Last Thursday's announcement of broadband stimulus - even if it was about two-and-a-half percent of the total broadband stimulus funding - was like manna to broadband industry. Whether or not broadband activists and broadband builders believe that the federal government will end up playing a significant part of the telecommunications industry, the tension-in-waiting for action has been palpable and long-building. By the time of Thursday's announcement, it had already been 10 months, to the day, since President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In light of these awards, what probably got less attention was a key policy document released on Thursday by the White House's National Economic Council. Titled "Recovery Act Investments in Broadband: Leveraging Federal Dollars to Create Jobs and Connect America," this document represents a manifesto for the value of federal engagement in broadband's "middle mile."
benton.org/node/30781 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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THE MEDIA BUREAU V THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau seems set on undermining two of the National Broadband Plan's biggest initiatives — reallocation (or re-examination, if you prefer) of broadcast spectrum and reform of the set top box rule. Which is why it would make sense for some of the responsible folks in the Chairman's office to exercise some adult supervision here. The Chairman has the responsibility to balance among the competing goals of the agency when the various delegated processes start to interfere with each other. A wise Chairman consults the other Commissioners as well, of course, but management of the Bureaus is squarely in the Chairman's list of responsibilities.
benton.org/node/30780 | Public Knowledge
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COULD STIMULUS GRANTS BE ABOUT THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE
[SOURCE: Fighting the Next Good Fight, AUTHOR: Craig Settles]
[Commentary] Even though it probably the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's intention, it has established in this first round of broadband stimulus awards parameters for following the path of least resistance. Many of those funded are middle mile projects, each serving a lot of people and/or covering a huge amount of geography. It's probably easier (read: faster) for a reviewer to make award decisions to fund five middle mile projects, each covering 10 counties, than to make decisions for 50 individual county proposals. A sizable portion of infrastructure grants went to public/private partnerships and nonprofits versus private entities that are the sole operator of the network. Smaller telecommunications companies seemed to win the day. Traditionally in technology and in telecommunications, it is most often the small companies that are the leaders of innovation. They are the problem solvers. Almost all of NTIA's grants were awarded to projects recommended by their respective states' governors.
benton.org/node/30779 | Fighting the Next Good Fight
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MORE ON BROADBAND/INTERNET

LATINOS ONLINE, 2006-2008
[SOURCE: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, AUTHOR: Susannah Fox]
From 2006 to 2008, Internet use among Latino adults rose by 10 percentage points, from 54% to 64%. In comparison, the rates for whites rose four percentage points, and the rates for blacks rose only two percentage points during that time period. Though Latinos continue to lag behind whites, the gap in Internet use has shrunk considerably. For Latinos, the increase in Internet use has been fueled in large part by increases in Internet use among groups that have typically had very low rates of Internet use. While U.S.-born Latinos experienced a two percentage point increase in Internet use from 75% in 2006 to 77% in 2008, foreign-born Latinos experienced a 12 percentage point increase during the same period, from 40% to 52%. In 2006, 31% of Latinos lacking a high school degree reported ever going online; in 2008, this number was 41%. In comparison, Latinos with higher levels of education experienced three to four percentage point increases in Internet use.
benton.org/node/30783 | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
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EU RULES AIM TO ACCELERATE BROADBAND SUBSCRIPTIONS
[SOURCE: BroadbandBreakfast.com, AUTHOR: Winter Casey]
Long-awaited European Union telecommunications rules are set to take effect this week, the EU Commission said Monday. The rules, which must be adopted by EU member states by June 2011, will establish a new national governing authority for the field of telecommunications. "The establishment of the new European Telecoms Authority BEREC is a very visible sign that we are serious when we say that Europe's telecoms operators and consumers should no longer feel national borders in network access and the delivery of communication services," said Viviane Reding, the EU's Telecoms Commissioner, in a statement. "From spring 2010 onwards, BEREC will help national telecoms regulators and the European Commission to ensure that telecoms services can be delivered under consistent and competitive conditions across the EU. Now that the reform Directives have been published in the Official Journal, I ask Member States to start work on the swift transposition of these rules into national laws. A rapid and correct transposition will be crucial for achieving legal certainty, enhancing competition and stimulating investment in Europe's evolving single telecoms market," she said.
benton.org/node/30778 | BroadbandBreakfast.com
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GOOGLE'S CREED: 'OPEN WILL WIN'
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Tom Krazit]
As a year winds down in which criticism of Google was perhaps never louder, the company used a quiet preholiday afternoon to post a manifesto on what it means to be "open." Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president of product management, originally wrote the "The meaning of open" as a memo to employees, but posted it on Google's official blog Monday. In the essay, Rosenberg lays out Google's belief that the use of open technologies and open information are two of Google's most important core values, although reasonable people can disagree on the meaning of "open" in various contexts. "This [disagreement] is happening often enough for me to conclude that we need to lay out our definition of open in clear terms that we can all understand and support," Rosenberg wrote. "What follows is that definition based on my experiences at Google and the input of several colleagues. We run the company and make our product decisions based on these principles, so I encourage you to carefully read, review, and debate them," he told Google employees in the memo.
benton.org/node/30777 | C-Net|News.com | Google
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CONTENT

US HAILS WTO DECISION
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Robert Evans]
Top trade judges on Monday rejected a Chinese appeal against a World Trade Organization ruling that said many of its curbs on foreign films, books and other cultural products violate open trading rules. The decision -- turning down Chinese complaints that an original WTO panel had erred in backing much of a case brought by the United States against the restrictions -- made no recommendation on how China should now handle the issue. US Trade Representative Ron Kirk called the ruling a "big win" for the United States and U.S. filmmakers, recording companies and book publishers frustrated by widespread piracy in China and their difficultly selling legitimate products. The judges from the WTO's Appellate Body said that China had produced no evidence that the panel was wrong in any of its findings against Beijing in a case some commentators have linked to the communist state's censorship practices. But they also turned down a U.S. appeal against part of the panel's ruling -- that China could fairly claim that its strict controls on firms importing printed material were aimed at protecting public morals. The appeal ruling comes at a time of growing concern among U.S. companies about China's respect for intellectual property.
benton.org/node/30769 | Reuters | CongressDaily
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DC AND HOLLYWOOD
[SOURCE: Tales from the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] The Copyright Mafia have certainly been feeling needy recently. Maybe it's all that talk about how wonderful broadband access is — with all the awful piracy it creates — clouding out how movies made record breaking profits this year. Maybe it's because the London Times linked to studies that show that musicians (but not labels) do better in a world of file sharing. Maybe it's just the sadness of winter time and the end of a decade in which Public Knowledge managed to hold off nearly all the awful legislation the Copyright Mafia proposed. But whatever it is, Hollywood has been saying to it's friends in DC "hold me," and their DC friends have been ready to oblige.
benton.org/node/30768 | Tales from the Sausage Factory
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HEALTH

EHR FOR MEANINGFUL USE
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Diana Manos]
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology has certified 14 electronic health record products that pass muster for provider use under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). "We believe it will be a challenge for providers who have not yet begun to evaluate products to purchase and implement EHR technology and achieve meaningful use in time for the 2011-2012 incentives," said Alisa Ray, the CCHIT's executive director. "We have received more than 30 applications for our 2011 certification programs - more than half of which are for the comprehensive program - and are announcing new certifications regularly so providers can begin to consider EHR technology that demonstrates compliance with the proposed federal standards." The CCHIT has now certified 14 products under one of two new programs, the CCHIT Certified 2011 Comprehensive program and the Preliminary ARRA certification program, since their launch on Oct. 7. As part of the comprehensive inspection process, key aspects of successful use are verified at live sites and usability is rated for ambulatory EHRs. The program is intended for healthcare providers looking for assurance that a product will meet their complex needs as well as support the achievement of "meaningful use" of IT to qualify for the ARRA financial incentives.
benton.org/node/30784 | GovernemntHealthIT
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NIST SEEKS FIRMS TO ANALYZE HIT
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Mary Mosquera]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is seeking firms to analyze whether certain health information technology standards are suitable for federal health information priorities, including meaningful use, the nationwide health information network and population health and public health. The project will test and analyze existing standards that support health information exchange, security and quality measurement, according to a Dec. 18th notice outlining the project. NIST is pursuing the project as part of a role assigned to it by the HITECH Act to study and test technical standards pertinent to establishing a nationwide e-health system. The notice said NIST's search for vendors was a part of its Healthcare IT Testing Infrastructure Project, under which it plans to offer services to validate health data exchange standards and test health work flows that use multiple messaging and document standards. NIST will also supply feedback loop to healthcare vendors and providers to improve use of the health IT standards.
benton.org/node/30773 | GovernemntHealthIT
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POLICYMAKERS

KUNDRA IS CIO OF THE YEAR
[SOURCE: InformationWeek, AUTHOR: J. Nicholas Hoover]
The US government's Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra, has been named InformationWeek's Chief of the Year. Nine months into his job, CIO Kundra has demonstrated a compelling vision for overhauling the government's lumbering IT operations (with 71,000 federal IT workers and more than 10,000 IT systems), and his progress is so far impressive.
benton.org/node/30764 | InformationWeek | InfoWeek Q&A
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