January 2010

[Commentary] Consensus is pretty strong that last week's oral argument on the Comcast/BitTorrent argument in front of the DC Circuit was an unmitigated disaster for the Federal Communications Commission. So much so that it appears that the D.C. Circuit may actually strip the FCC of any authority to "regulate the Internet."

While one would think Comcast would be cheering at the prospect of eliminating any watchdog over broadband whatsoever, they have been rather frantically backing away and insisting the FCC still has authority to impose network neutrality rules. Why the odd switch? Comcast, and most other major carriers, never wanted to eliminate FCC jurisdiction. Because while everyone wants the freedom of no rules, they also want some reassurance that if something goes wrong, someone has the authority to step in and fix it before it gets too out of hand.

While nobody likes getting a speeding ticket, most folks appreciate having a cop on the beat and rules of the road that tell you what side to drive on to avoid getting in a head on collision. The thought of no one having authority to step in if some major crisis hits, for example AT&T deciding it's tired of losing landline customers to Cox and refusing to complete its Voice Over IP calls, is rather scary to anyone who actually makes a living from having a stable, operating, interconnected global network. While an utterly unregulated Libertarian free-for-all appeals to think tank folks, it generally does not go down well with business folks.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke , joined by Sen Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at the South Los Angeles WorkSource Center, announced a $7.5 million Recovery Act grant that will upgrade and expand 188 computer centers that provide the public with free broadband access to the Internet. The investment will help bridge the technological divide and improve access to job and computer training, and educational opportunities.

The grant was awarded to the Los Angeles' Computer Access Network (L.A.-CAN). The L.A.-CAN project proposes to double the number of workstations available throughout the city at public computer centers in libraries, workforce centers and youth and family centers in low-income and non-English speaking communities. The majority of the 188 proposed centers would be located in or within three miles of federal- and state-designated "Enterprise Zones."

The project proposes to:

• Expand and upgrade free public computer centers at 73 public library locations, 43 WorkSource and OneSource job centers, and 72 recreation centers, senior centers and child care centers—connecting 35 youth and senior centers to broadband Internet service for the first time.
• Expand broadband Internet access to vulnerable populations: 128 of the proposed centers are located in or near areas where 50 percent of the households are non-English speaking.
• Expand broadband Internet access to low-income communities: 158 of the proposed centers are located in areas where 50 percent of the households are at low- or moderate-income levels.
• Provide city residents with access to job and computer training and online search engines, including the library's recently-developed Job Hunting Guide.

The consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge on Tuesday hosted the first-ever World Fair Use Day.

"Fair use" refers to the defense, under the copyright statute, that permits individuals and businesses to make use of others' copyrighted material under certain circumstances. The keynote speaker was Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA), who told the attendees how Congress as a whole sees the issue of mixing and mashups ­ they don't understand it. Additionally, Doyle defended the rights of artists and reaffirmed his support of the doctrine. He also warned about actions being taken by the U.S. trade representative in the Anti-Conterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations. And he acknowledged that many congressional officials want the process to be more transparent.

The Obama administration has invited dozens of the nation's top executives to the White House on Thursday seeking tips on how the federal bureaucracy can become leaner and meaner. That means thinking of ways to cut costs and getting federal agencies to place a higher priority on better serving the public, in areas including immigration, education and the census.

White House officials are hoping to use new technologies, such as the Web and text messaging, to make that all happen. But the private sector's entrepreneurial zeal may not translate so easily to federal agencies. For example, the Census Bureau spent $600 million on a project to make its 2010 count electronic, but the effort failed and the census will be conducted by paper this year. Attendees are expected to include Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Sprint Nextel chief executive Dan Hesse, PepsiCo chief executive Indra K. Nooyi, and Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. The executives will break out into three working groups and then present their ideas to all attendees, including Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama, and Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget. (See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-ballmer/improving-government-serv_b_...)

The government has started to implement some of the administration's ideas. It's cut nearly a dozen information technology contracts that appeared wasteful. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is using text messages to inform applicants for citizenship when their paperwork moves through the seven steps of the application process.