March 2010

Europe threatens web openness

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement could lead to monitoring of web traffic, according to European ISP Association.

A treaty being negotiated in secret could force Internet service providers to monitor Internet traffic and services and risk the openness of the web, according to the European Internet Service Providers Association (EuroISPA). The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a series of negotiations aimed at preventing counterfeiting both on and offline. Taking place between the United States, the European Commission, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Canada and Mexico, all negotiations have so far been held in secret, although leaks have become more extensive.

UK next-gen broadband gets funding body

Two major upgrades to the UK's broadband infrastructure have moved closer with the creation of an organization which will allocate funding for the work.

On Thursday, the government launched Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), which will allocate funds for the two major schemes: the universal service commitment and next-generation broadband. The universal service commitment will ensure all households have a 2Mbps connection by 2012, while the £1bn next-generation broadband fund will supplement private-sector investment with the aim of offering next-generation broadband speeds to 90 percent of the population by 2017.

UK launches new body for universal broadband push

The new government body responsible for rolling out next-generation broadband across the UK will begin its work on 4 March, Digital Britain minister Stephen Timms announced. Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) will be responsible for the 2 Mbps universal service commitment for 90 percent of the country by 2017, with GBP 1 billion allocated for the job.

The group was launched as the UK government published a report by Analysys Mason on next generation broadband across the UK, which will be used by BDUK to priority communities who could benefit from the Next Generation Fund. The report looks at three scenarios, a purely market-led approach, a network subsidized by the Digital Britain Next Generation Fund and, local interventions supplementing a subsidized network.

Antitrust tribunal orders Telefónica to unbundle broadband packages

Chile's antitrust tribunal TDLC has sided with Chilean IP telephony enabler RedVoiss' complaint that Telefónica Chile has participated in unfair pricing, TDLC announced on its website. The finding is that Telefónica basically requires clients to contract bundled services, as the price for these packaged services is significantly lower than if they were to be contracted on their own. TDLC fined Telefónica an amount equivalent to roughly US$4.4mn. "As long as TCH [Telefónica Chile] is the dominant player in broadband services, it cannot bundle any other product or service to it [broadband]; as such it must offer naked broadband," according to the tribunal's finding.

Victoria expands Linux e-voting roll-out

Victoria's Electoral Commission in Australia has flagged plans to expand its use of electronic voting kiosks based on Linux software in the next state election in November this year.

The state first started using the machines in a limited trial during the last state election in 2006. It appears as if the machines were used for voting for the vision-impaired, as well as for military personnel. However, in tender documents released last week, the state revealed it would expand its use of the machines. About one hundred kiosks will be deployed to early voting centers (including mobile facilities) around the state as well as in the United Kingdom. According to the tender documentation, the machines will consist of one in-built 19? LCD touch-screen, one PC with an Ethernet network port, and an in-built USB smartcard reader. The machine must be able to run Linux, as the commission has requested Linux drivers for the components. The commission stated it would install Linux on the machines itself, but it remains unclear which exact version of the open source operating system it will use.

Hospital networks key to e-health plan: Rudd's health reform

E-health barely rated a mention last week, but Mr. Powick told The Australian "no government is going to invest in e-health or IT systems without a reform context, and we clearly have that now".

"Mr. Rudd talked about the need to deliver better integrated, better co-ordinated care that's more responsive to patient needs, and about putting in place a health system for the 21st century," he said. "I'd argue very strongly that you can't do either without electronic communications." Mr. Powick said the concept of local hospital networks offered a very useful way of advancing connectivity between the acute and primary care sectors -- but warned there was a risk that too much fragmentation could "splinter the e-health agenda into a thousand pieces". "What's interesting is that the more successful e-health pilots -- in northern Brisbane, the NSW Hunter Valley, Barwon in Victoria, and the Northern Territory -- are all happening at a regional level," he said. "So local engagement is very positive, provided we don't end up with a whole bunch of small-scale, disparate projects."

The Economic Impact of Digital Exclusion

Digital Impact Group and Econsult Corporation have produced an assessment of the economic impact of digital exclusion in the US.

The report quantifies costs associated with the significant proportion of the population that lacks high-speed Internet access at home, and estimates an annual cost to individuals, government and the nation of $55 billion. In the US, over 100 million individuals representing over 40 million households are unable to use high-speed Internet, or broadband, because they cannot access it, cannot afford it, do not know how to use it, or are not aware of its benefits. This "digital divide" is costly not only for those who lack computer access and skills, but for businesses, government, and the nation as a whole.

The DIG/Econsult report develops a taxonomy of negative economic impacts associated with digital exclusion, articulates the mechanisms through which digital exclusion has adverse impacts, and qualitatively and quantitatively evaluates 11 categories of significant impact. For example, in the area of education, analysis focuses on increased earnings potential resulting from increased educational success made possible by broadband access. The estimate in the economic opportunity category accounts for increased job searching ability via the Internet, and greatly improved access to employment for the disabled, citing the vast proportion of companies that accept job applications online only. The report seeks to identify minimum likely levels of impact in each category. The estimates of all 11 categories of economic impact yield an aggregate estimate of the current cost of digital exclusion of over $55 billion per year. The cumulative figure does not directly account for a number of significant, albeit hard to quantify, considerations that are more diffuse in nature but are no less important. For example, the study notes but does not attempt to quantify the social and economic benefits of greater civic engagement, or the environmental impacts associated with the reductions in travel that result from online shopping. In these areas and more, as well as in those areas that were quantified, the report is intended to be the start of a conversation about the economic impact of digital exclusion. As such, it identifies aspects of the cost of digital exclusion that warrant further exploration and precision.

The poor care about broadband

There's an allegedly stubborn portion of the population -- mostly poor, rural, and older -- who don't use the Internet at all, because they supposedly don't care to do so. But a new study suggests that this community of broadband outsiders is rapidly disappearing from the landscape, particularly among low income Americans.

"We found no such group," concludes the Social Science Research Council, "even among respondents with profound histories of marginalization -- the homeless, people with long-term disabilities, people recently released from lengthy prison sentences, non-English speakers from new immigrant communities, and residents of a rural community without electricity or running water. No one needed to be convinced of the importance of Internet use or of the value of broadband adoption in the home." It may be that SSRC's staff didn't find these blasé types because their sample size was much smaller than the National Telecommunications & Information Agency's recent survey of 'Net use (based on census queries of 54,000 households), or last year's Pew study concluding that two-thirds of those without broadband just don't want it. But the report -- "Broadband Adoption and Low Income Communities" -- is backed up with interviews that are of much greater depth than either of those previous studies. Produced for the Federal Communications Commission, the new study confirms the trend that the NTIA report hinted at: disinterest is taking a back seat to unaffordability, uncertainty, lack of equipment, and lack of skill. More worrisome is SSRC's identification of a new category in the broadband sociosphere: "un-adopters"—households that once had high speed Internet, then dropped the service because they could not afford it any more.

Boucher makes plans for telecom reform while ramping up re-election campaign

A Q&A with Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA).

He has big plans this year. He wants to reform the nearly $8 billion-a-year fund to subsidize Internet services. He also wants to enact the first online privacy legislation. That's not all--he also wants to push the Spectrum Inventory Act through the House and hold a number of oversight hearings on the FCC's National Broadband Plan. All the while, Boucher will be campaigning against a Republican challenger for his seat. As chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, he has a lot to accomplish in Washington while also defending the seat he has held for 28 years. He is the 10th most powerful member of the House, but he faces a tough race in southern Virginia. Republicans have attacked him for his support of cap-and-trade legislation, despite his district's roots in coal-mining. And critics say he has been in Washington so long he has lost touch with his constituency.

National Education Technology Plan

The plan calls for revolutionary transformation rather than evolutionary tinkering. It urges our education system at all levels to: 1) Be clear about the outcomes we seek, 2) Collaborate to redesign structures and processes for effectiveness, efficiency, and flexibility, 3) Continually monitor and measure our performance, and 4) Hold ourselves accountable for progress and results every step of the way.

Just as technology is at the core of virtually every aspect of our daily lives and work, we must leverage it to provide engaging and powerful learning experiences, content, and resources and assessments that measure student achievement in more complete, authentic, and meaningful ways. Technology-based learning and assessment systems will be pivotal in improving student learning and generating data that can be used to continuously improve the education system at all levels. Technology will help us execute collaborative teaching strategies combined with professional learning that better prepare and enhance educators' competencies and expertise over the course of their careers. To shorten our learning curve, we can learn from other kinds of enterprises that have used technology to improve outcomes while increasing productivity.

Julie Evans, CEO of the nonprofit organization Project Tomorrow, said the plan provides some "long-overdue recommendations" for how technology can enhance education. "The plan accurately sums up that hard realization that today's classroom environment for most students does not mirror they way they are living their lives outside of school or what they need to be prepared for future jobs, and that this disconnect is actually creating a relevancy crisis in American education," Evans said.

Benton

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