June 2010

US is busy thwarting cyber terrorism

The new head of the U.S. Cyber Command, Gen. Keith Alexander, revealed this month that Pentagon systems are attacked 250,000 times an hour, 6 million times a day.

The attackers range from foreign intelligence agents to for-profit criminal enterprises to hackers trying to make mischief, security specialists say. "In short, we face a dangerous combination of known and unknown vulnerabilities," said Alexander, who also heads the National Security Agency. As the federal government moves to address those vulnerabilities, defense contractors such as Boeing are pushing aggressively to win lucrative contracts. Companies accustomed to selling weapons to the government also are bidding for work in secret military programs to develop offensive cyberwarfare tools. At the heart of the debate is the reality that hackers are aiming at business networks as well as home computers with increasingly sophisticated techniques. They are trying to steal everything from intellectual property to personal financial information — or perhaps they merely hope to cripple systems in "denial of service" attacks. The National White Collar Crime Center reported $560 million in losses from a variety of Internet crimes last year, more than double the reported losses a year before.

NAB, MSTV: We'll Work With FCC on Reclamation

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, executives from the National Association of Broadcasters and the Association for Maximum Service Television thanked the FCC for holding an engineering forum last week on how to reclaim spectrum for wireless broadband. They said broadcasters are willing to work with the FCC on achieving the goal of ensuring access to broadband. But the bottom line of the letter was to emphasize the value not only to broadcasters but consumers and the government of letting broadcasters build out their spectrum with new services, including mobile video. "Collectively, untold billions of dollars were invested by broadcasters, government and consumers to ensure America's leadership edge in digital and high definition television, and the fruits of those investments are just beginning to be realized," the two trade groups said.

Fix the economy? There's a mobile app for that

As the US struggles to recover from a recession, can today's hot technology - mobile applications or mobile apps - provide an economic boost?

It's a tall order. Information technology since its start has helped expand the US economy by some $2 trillion, says the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) in Washington. Mobile apps, pieces of software for mobile devices, can be downloaded for a few dollars, or even free of charge sometimes. So it takes big sales to generate big revenue. Nevertheless, the prospects are encouraging. Globally, users made more than 7 billion software downloads from app stores last year; by 2012, they will be making nearly 50 billion, according to estimates by an independent study commissioned by GetJar, a cross-platform app store with locations in the US, Britain, and Lithuania. Entrepreneurs are busy creating apps for everything from games and news to real estate listings and recipes. Revenues from Apple's and others' primary app stores are slated to rise from $3 billion last year to $18 billion by 2014, according to Todd Day, an industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

Tech groups buoyed by patent ruling

On June 28, the Supreme Court ruled that so-called business method patents are eligible for legal protection, a victory for technology companies seeking to protect innovations in software and biotechnology.

In a unanimous decision, the Court ruled against two men who sought to patent a method for hedging the impact that changes in the weather have on energy prices, saying the application was too abstract. But the court left the door open for other "business method patents." Current business method patent holders look to be safe under the ruling. "Those who are patent holders in the various areas, such as software companies and medical technology companies, they should be very pleased," said Mike Jakes, a partner at Finnegan, who argued the case before the court. "This resets where the line is."

Google stops rerouting China's searches to Hong Kong site

On June 29, Google said it will stop automatically rerouting users of its China search site to its Hong Kong site after Beijing threatened the company with the loss of its Internet license.

Google said regulators told the company its Internet license, which expires Wednesday, would not be renewed if that continues. "They made it clear to us that they did not think the redirect was acceptable," said a Google spokeswoman, Jessica Powell. She declined to say what reasons the government gave for its objections. Instead of automatically being switched to Hong Kong, visitors to Google.cn now see a tab that says in Chinese "We have moved to google.com.hk." Users can click on that tab to move to the Chinese-language site in Hong Kong, which is a Chinese territory but has Western-style civil liberties with no Internet filtering. There was no immediate word from Beijing about whether the measure was sufficient for Google to keep its Chinese Internet license.

Le Monde Defies Sarkozy, Accepts Bid Led by Socialist Backer Pierre Berge

Le Monde, France's struggling newspaper of record, accepted an offer from investors including Yves Saint Laurent Group partner Pierre Berge, snubbing President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had opposed the bid.

The group of investors, which also includes Internet billionaire Xavier Niel and Lazard Ltd. banker Matthieu Pigasse agreed to pay 110 million euros ($135 million) to take control of the 65-year-old Paris afternoon daily, helping it avert a capital crunch. By accepting the offer, the newspaper's staff rejected pressure from Sarkozy, who had told Le Monde Chief Executive Officer Eric Fottorino he didn't want the daily taken over by the trio. Berge backed opposition Socialist Party candidate Segolene Royal in the 2007 presidential election and is close to International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a possible 2012 candidate for the Socialists.

Technological Opportunities, Job Creation, and Economic Growth

Speaking at a New America Foundation event, Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council, focused on President Barack Obama's move to dramatically increase the amount of federal and commercial spectrum available for smartphones and wireless Internet devices.

Summers put the move into historical perspective:

"The most important innovations are those that create possibilities that could not have previously been imagined, and with them create the industries of the future and millions of new jobs. The steam engine, electricity, the automobile - these were technologies that did not just permit existing products to be produced better or more cheaply, but opened whole new economic vistas. We are in the middle of another one of those revolutions right now. The information technology revolution is redefining infrastructure. For millennia, progress in infrastructure came from the more effective movement of the commerce in goods and services. But in the digital world, we are concerned with the movements of images and ideas, bits rather than mass. We are now in the midst of the third wave of the Internet's development: mobile broadband. And we have only begun to glimpse the benefits of that revolution, exemplified by smartphones, netbooks, and the applications that run on them."

And he identified the four key parts of the President's plan:
1. Identify and plan for the release of 500 MHz of spectrum.
2. Provide new tools and new incentives to free up spectrum.
3. Redeploy the spectrum to high-value uses.
4. Use the auction proceeds to promote public safety and job-creating infrastructure investment.

Reaction to President Obama's Spectrum Plan

Reaction to President Barack Obama's directive on "Unleashing the Wireless Broadband Revolution" came from many corners.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said, "Broadband is about investment, innovation, jobs and opportunity, and spectrum is vital infrastructure for broadband. The Administration's strong action today is a critical step toward ensuring that America will lead the world in mobile broadband. The initiatives endorsed today will spur economic growth, promote private investment, and drive U.S. global leadership in broadband innovation. Spectrum is the oxygen of wireless, and the future of our mobile economy depends on spectrum recovery and smart spectrum policies. As over one hundred companies, representing billions in investment and millions of American jobs, told the FCC: 'Our nation's ability to lead the world in innovation and technology is threatened by the lack of sufficient spectrum for wireless broadband applications and services.'"

Harold Feld, Public Knowledge Legal Director, said "We are pleased that the White House is moving forward to increase the amount of spectrum access for non-federal users. This additional spectrum should eventually translate into more competition in the wireless industry, and more opportunities for consumers. We were particularly pleased that Dr. Summers took note of the importance of both licensed and unlicensed spectrum as part of a comprehensive spectrum policy."

The Consumer Electronics Association applauded the President's plan to "liberate underutilized broadcast spectrum as part of an overall goal of deploying 500 MHz of spectrum to solve our nation's broadband crisis.

CTIA: The Wireless Association said, "We thank the Administration for acknowledging the wireless industry's important role as an economic driver and for recognizing the potential that this spectrum holds for enhancing the lives of all Americans. The President's Memorandum and today's announcement are important steps in helping the U.S. wireless industry maintain our world leadership in mobile innovation."

Rep Peter King (R-NY) said, "I was disappointed not to see a White House endorsement for any additional spectrum to specifically be allocated for public safety."

The National Association of Broadcasters said, "Expanding broadband is important, and broadcasters will work constructively with policymakers to help them attain that objective. We appreciate FCC assurances that further reclamation of broadcast television spectrum will be completely voluntary, and we're convinced that America can have both the finest broadband and broadcasting system in the world without jeopardizing the future of free and local TV service to tens of millions of viewers. We also believe the first priority of Congress ought to be passage of spectrum inventory legislation that identifies fallow spectrum or companies that may be 'warehousing' the airwaves."

Free Press Policy Counsel M. Chris Riley said, "We are glad the White House is taking the necessary steps to help move a crucial piece of the National Broadband Plan. We encourage the administration to support the rest of the plan, which is now in jeopardy, by endorsing FCC Chairman Genachowski's Third Way proposal to restore the agency's broadband oversight authority. While today's announcement is commendable, additional spectrum alone will not fix a broken market. For consumers to realize the full benefit of this reallocation of our public airwaves, the FCC and Congress must take steps to promote competition in the mobile broadband industry. Congress, the White House and the FCC should commit to dedicating a substantial portion of reallocated spectrum to unlicensed usage, in addition to auctioned spectrum. The FCC should also reinstate spectrum caps or tighter screens, impose and enforce build-out requirements to ensure that companies do not warehouse newly acquired spectrum, and move forward with handset exclusivity, data roaming and other policy problems facing consumers in the mobile broadband market."

Cisco's Mary Brown said, "The only President to ever carry and use a Blackberry today announced an ambitious plan that will allow people and things to communicate using new IP-based wireless technologies on a scale never before seen. This is a huge step in the right direction. In Cisco's view, a new era of visual communications is upon us. Americans will use video to communicate with each other, ensure the safety of our citizens and critical infrastructures, for information gathering and collaboration, and in ways that we cannot even imagine. Like President Kennedy's goal of putting a man on the moon, President Obama's 10-year spectrum initiative promises to put the United States at the forefront of technologies that will be needed to support a very different communications system than the one that exists today."

"Today's Presidential Memorandum on spectrum policy," said AT&T's Jim Cicconi, "and the public comments of the President's top economic advisor, are both encouraging and timely...Spectrum deficiencies, if left unaddressed, will limit job growth and investment, harm consumers, and hobble innovation. And just as all wireless carriers will face these spectrum deficiencies, all carriers should be allowed a fair chance to acquire the spectrum their customers need. We look forward to working with the Administration as it moves to meet the spectrum goals outlined in the National Broadband Plan, and now endorsed by the President."

Sprint's Vonya McCann said, "Sprint is pleased that President Obama has put his support behind the FCC's National Broadband Plan recommendations concerning spectrum allocation. The President's order will facilitate all federal agencies working cooperatively to identify spectrum availability and best manage this scarce resource. If the plan's recommendations are implemented fully over the next ten years, they will create jobs, promote innovation, and further expand the country's broadband economy."

"This is an important and positive step in our long-term goal of ubiquitous broadband nationwide," said the Information Technology Industry Council's Dean Garfield. "As the United States recovers from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, it's critical that we recognize the vast potential of broadband to create jobs, train our workforce and drive sustained growth across industry sectors. In short, faster, more pervasive Internet will make it easier for retailers to take orders and track inventory, airlines to sell seats, tourist destinations to attract visitors and schools to educate the innovators of the future."

"Just like roads and bridges of the last century, widespread broadband deployment represents the fundamental underlying infrastructure of America's innovation economy," said Rey Ramsey, President and CEO of TechNet. "As the President said in his memorandum, our nation's future is wireless and a dynamic broadband network is central to our nation's long-term economic growth. We look forward to working with our policymakers to make the power of broadband more available and accessible to every American."

Benton Foundation Chairman and CEO Charles Benton said, "Spectrum is the lifeblood of our economy in an increasingly competitive, always-on, always-connected world. To reach our national goal of universal, affordable broadband access and use, we must transform the National Broadband Plan into new, effective policies. Today's action by President Barack Obama is important for many reasons, but none more so than it shows the National Broadband Plan has the attention of the President and the Administration at the highest levels. Now federal policymakers, including Congress, must do their part in implementing the Plan."

Obama's Support for Spectrum Better Do More Than His Support for Net Neutrality

President Barack Obama's memorandum in support of freeing up 500 MHz of spectrum for mobile broadband services may not mean a whole lot.

The Administration also released a plan that reaffirms its commitment to more unlicensed spectrum (such as the two bands currently being used to deliver Wi-Fi ), which could be a boon for device makers as well as future wireless broadband services. The memo also dictates that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration work with federal research agencies such as DARPA and the NSF to "facilitate R&D that explores innovative spectrum-sharing technologies," which could lead to more funding for radio startups. However, when it comes to the spectrum itself, the president in his memo added his support to the efforts the Federal Communications Commission and the NTIA have already outlined with respect to reallocating and reapportioning spectrum. With 220 MHz of the 500 MHz needed currently used by agencies of the federal government, Obama's memo will smooth the process of making that available. However, it's the spectrum in use by commercial entities where the President's influence will fall short.

In order to grease the wheels and ensure that broadcasters will willingly give up spectrum they're not using (or not using efficiently), the FCC needs Congress to allow it to share the proceeds of any spectrum auction with broadcasters. But will Congress really want to give up billions in proceeds from the spectrum auction in order to pay off the broadcasters? It's a thorny issue for any elected official, which is why Obama's support is nice, but may not mean much. The FCC doesn't need a memo; it needs a change in the law.

US Broadband Numbers Don't Lie, Just Confuse

Ninety-five percent of Americans do have access to broadband where they live, but when it comes to adoption or actually signing up for broadband at home, the number is much lower — closer to 63 percent.

Derek Turner, research director for the public interest group Free Press, says the numbers don't lie. "For the providers to try to say that there's no problem, it's merely just a smoke screen," he says. When it comes to broadband adoption, Turner says the U.S. has fallen behind other developed countries, including such technological powerhouses as ... Estonia? "Depending on whose numbers you look at, we're a middle-of-the-pack performer," he says. "But even more alarming is the direction we're heading. We're dropping in the rankings — countries are outperforming us." The two narratives about how easy and cheap it is to get online in the U.S. are so starkly different that it's hard to believe both sides are talking about the same Internet.

But John Horrigan, who studied broadband adoption at the Pew Internet & American Life Project and now at the FCC, says the Internet of these two narratives is actually one and the same. "There are a lot of different measures that float around," he says. "So people might pick a number that makes their case and not look at numbers that might suggest a somewhat different story."

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