February 2010

BTOP Grant for New Mexico

Commerce Secretary Locke, Sens Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Tom Udall (D-NM), and former New Mexico Governor Toney Anaya announced a $11.2 million Recovery Act investment to help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs, and improve education and healthcare in eastern New Mexico and west Texas.

The grant will bring high-speed Internet access to more than 200 community anchor institutions -- including schools, public safety organizations, healthcare facilities, and government agencies -- and lay the groundwork for bringing affordable broadband service to thousands of homes and businesses in the region. The investment will allow the ENMR Telephone Cooperative, Inc., which does business as ENMR-Plateau, to enhance broadband Internet capabilities in eastern New Mexico and west Texas by providing a more than 1,600-mile ring of fiber. Among other benefits, the project plans to expand distance learning opportunities for students at schools and libraries in rural areas and enable connectivity to a telehealth network being constructed across New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Free Press: Phone and Cable Companies Present a False Choice

Free Press filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to protect consumers and promote competition. Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press, made the following statement:

"Years of lobbying and litigation by industry have undermined the intent of Congress to make the FCC the cop on the beat in communications markets. The Commission cannot and should not be prevented from protecting consumers and promoting competition. The phone and cable industries present a false choice between the current environment of extreme uncertainty and total government control of the Internet. Our position has always been that there are options in the middle -- clear places where the FCC can act to protect consumers and promote competition, without the doomsday scenarios portrayed by the ISPs. To the extent that incumbents now bemoan the regulatory uncertainty they face, it's their own fault for trying to eviscerate Title I so significantly that the Commission has been forced to revisit these questions."

The Strongest Open Internet Protections Possible: Yes, We Can.

[Commentary] Full broadband adoption and open Internet protections are both possible -- if, and only if, the Federal Communications Commission defines broadband as a universal service and ensures the strongest possible protections for an open Internet.

Communities of color and the poor cannot thrive with less. It's time for our voices to be heard. The truth is, strong open Internet protections encourage investment and deployment, because they prevent ISPs from profiting from artificial scarcity; and nothing about network neutrality will prevent ISPs from charging heavy users more. The only reason additional costs would be dumped on poor and working class consumers is if private companies are given too much rope to hang us with. We can prevent that by ensuring the FCC imposes strong non-discrimination protections in network neutrality rules, thereby limiting corporate control over the Internet. I support -- and I believe Mr. Steele would agree -- stopping corporate bullies, not rewarding them with more control. It's clear that the civil rights mandate is to ensure full broadband access and adoption while defending representation online.

Many members of the civil rights community agree that the best way to narrow the digital divide is to define broadband as a universal service, and codify the strongest open Internet rules possible that narrowly define reasonable network management and ensure that every voice and idea has a chance by preventing the blocking or prioritizing of content based on profit. But some in the civil rights community are legitimately concerned that limiting the ability of wealthy corporations to increase their profit through broad and discriminatory management of their networks might have a negative impact on broadband build out and access for communities of color, the poor, and other historically disenfranchised groups. As a result, they are hesitant to support rules that may curtail the flexibility of corporate media giants to block or prioritize content to make money.

But the fight for an open Internet is a fight for our mothers, our children, and our future. Let's not be confused. The fight for an open Internet is an inter-generational fight that requires all members of the civil rights community -- veterans and leaders of a new generation -- to have the foresight and clarity to respond effectively to a new generation of media problems and opportunities. None of us should be willing to cede representation to get access, or accept any less than the strongest Open Internet protections possible.

Connecting The Telecom Dots Behind 'Net Neutrality' (Hint: It's About The Money)

[Commentary] It is misleading to say that the current debate over Network Neutrality and the open Internet is about the Net. The current debate over Net Neutrality and the open Internet is not about the Net. It's not about Neutrality. It's not about openness. It's about you. It's about Personal Internet Freedom vs. Corporate Internet Control. It's all about the money.

There's a reason that Verizon and AT&T and Comcast and the rest of the crew are spending millions of dollars on their lobbying, campaign contributions, front groups and academics to beat up on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Congress, state regulators, state legislators and anybody else who gets in their way. It's not for any particular principle. It's not because of some disagreement over arcane issues in telecommunications law. It's so they can shape today's Internet to their liking, and make money from it as they want the Internet to be, and what they want isn't pretty.

They want two things:

1) To do what they want, including destroying (or at least severely restricting) the Internet as we know it.

2) To do it without any government oversight or consumer protection.

FCC Extends Network Neutrality Deadline

The Federal Communications Commission has extended the deadline for filing reply comments in the Network Neutrality/open Internet proceeding until April 8, 2010.

How will telcos convert voice-only customers to VOIP?

AT&T's December 2009 proposal to the Federal Communications Commission recommending the phase-out of traditional POTS is very much a "big picture" document that leaves many details to be resolved later.

Although there has been ample coverage of the factors that are driving the company to make this recommendation, few news reports have attempted to identify the details that would need to be resolved if AT&T's ideas were to be accepted. That's something worth exploring, since AT&T's proposal seems to have a lot of support. AT&T suggests that voice service should be delivered in VOIP form over the broadband network it envisions will replace the PSTN. The company already is moving in that direction with its u-Verse offering, which supports voice in VOIP form over a converged platform for customers who also take either data or advanced video service. AT&T's proposal makes just one brief reference to customers who may want only voice service. The company asks the FCC to issue a Notice of Inquiry to address "how to ensure that the phase-out of the PSTN does not leave individuals who do not use computers without service." The company points to the possibility of using inexpensive devices that allow VOIP customers to plug traditional telephones directly into broadband connections. Installing those broadband connections, however, is almost certain to require a truck roll, noted Clif Holliday, president of B&C Consulting -- an industry analyst who has been closely following broadband deployments such as u-Verse. And that could be very costly, Holliday said.

Comcast-NBC Deal Hurts Jobs, Investment and Prices, Union Says

Comcast's proposed takeover of NBC Universal would hurt jobs, stifle Internet investment and raise cable prices, said Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America union.

"We don't see value in the merger as it stands," Cohen said in an interview before his scheduled testimony tomorrow to the House Judiciary Committee. "We see huge problems in terms of jobs and workers rights in the industry." The merger will affect about 100,000 union jobs within the industry, including those at Internet and production companies that work with NBC Universal, Cohen said. The CWA and consumer groups say the deal, which will give Comcast 51 percent of NBC Universal, will give it too much control over the market.

FCC Extends Review of the Emergency Alert System

The Federal Communications Commission has extended the filing dates in its review of the emergency alert system. Comments are due Monday, March 15, 2010 and reply comments are now due Tuesday, April 13, 2010.

In addition, the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations and National Association of Broadcasters will hold the annual EAS National Summit in Washington, DC on February 28.

House Hearing on the Collection and Use of Location Information for Commercial Purposes

The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a joint hearing on February 24. The hearing examined privacy and other issues related to the commercial collection, use, and sharing of location-based information.

Applications that collect information about users' whereabouts may soon face more regulatory scrutiny if Congress backs the suggestions from members of subcommittees. Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush (D-IL) said he will push legislation that would clamp down on commercial applications companies who collect users' location data.

Rules preventing wireless carriers from sharing customers' location data without their consent must also apply to location-reading application companies, said Rep Edward Markey (D-MA). The wireless regulations ensure a mobile phone is a "telecommunications device and not a tracker," Rep Markey said, arguing that similar rules should govern applications such as global positioning systems (GPS) and mapping programs, services that connect users with nearby retailers, and social applications such as Four Square, which allow users to tell their friends where they are.

Cell phones show human movement predictable 93% of the time

We'd like to think of ourselves as dynamic, unpredictable individuals, but according to new research, that's not the case at all. In a study published in last week's Science, researchers looked at customer location data culled from cellular service providers. By looking at how customers moved around, the authors of the study found that it may be possible to predict human movement patterns and location up to 93 percent of the time. These findings may be useful in multiple fields, including city planning, mobile communication resource management, and anticipating the spread of viruses.

Benton

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