September 2010

Do You Actually Care About Privacy?

[Commentary] Care about privacy? Godin's not sure you do. If you cared about privacy you wouldn't have a credit card, because, after all, they know everything you spend money on. And you wouldn't use the phone, because somewhere, there's a computer scanning what you say. What most of us care about is being surprised. What many people miss about privacy and Facebook is that the company has always taken the position that privacy shouldn't be assumed. Sure, they've mishandled some of their user communications and feature rollouts, but basically, they offer the religion of no-privacy, and an entire generation or two is ready to grow up in public as a result. We're just not eager to be surprised along the way.

USDA Broadband Stimulus Awards for 4 States

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the funding of new Recovery Act broadband infrastructure projects that will create jobs and provide access to improved Internet service to rural residents in northern Mississippi, central Arkansas, eastern Colorado, and southwest Nevada.

A $2.63 million award will allow The Digital Bridge Corporation to bring affordable, fourth-generation broadband services to rural portions of Panola and Quitman Counties (MS) lacking high-speed access. The network stands to benefit approximately 18,200 people, more than 1,300 businesses, and 87 community institutions where 74 percent of the premises are without high-speed access. The project will cover 191 square miles. In addition to the six jobs created or retained, the company estimates this project will create, it will provide a foundation for economic growth and job creation for decades to come. Funding is contingent upon the recipient meeting the terms of the loan, grant or loan/grant agreement.

The $7.3 million award for Arkansas, with more than $2.4 million in private investment, will allow The Windstream Corporation to provide digital telephone, high-speed Internet and high-definition video and entertainment services to residential and business customers. The network stands to benefit approximately 15,000 people, more than 330 businesses and 33 anchor institutions that otherwise may never enjoy the benefits of broadband. In addition to the 122 jobs created or retained, the company estimates this project will create, it will provide a foundation for economic growth and job creation for decades to come.

In Colorado a 791,947 award, matched by $245,510 in private funding, will allow The Willard Telephone Company to upgrade its facilities to offer Fiber to the Home in the Willard Community, a non-designated community in northeastern Colorado. The network stands to benefit approximately 1,900 people, eight businesses, a fire department, and two military facilities, all of which lack high-speed Internet access. The project will cover 132 square miles with 93 miles of fiber-optic cable. This area of farm and ranch land has an average density of 0.7 premises per square mile. In addition to the 11 jobs the company estimates this project will create, it will provide a foundation for economic growth and job creation for decades to come.

Finally, in Nevada, a $7.75 million award, matched by $148,500 in private contribution, will allow the Arizona Nevada Tower Corporation to offer a state-of-the-art microwave radio backbone and middle-mile system to provide significant bandwidth to WISPS, anchor institutions and enterprise users. The project will provide highly reliable and scalable broadband transport to enhance existing fiber-optic cable or where fiber-optic cable is not available to serve users living outside of Washoe and Clark counties. Approximately 41,000 people stand to benefit, as do approximately 186 businesses and community institutions in 15 service areas. In addition to the eight jobs the company estimates this project will create, it will provide a foundation for economic growth and job creation for decades to come.

Waxman's Bottom Line: The 'FCC Must Act'

House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) confounded the critics who slammed him and his staff for putting together a draft bill that supposedly favored the big telecom companies when he called on the Federal Communications Commission to get with the network neutrality program: "The bottom line is that we must protect the open Internet. If Congress can't act, the FCC must." And Congress isn't acting any time soon.

At the end, the politics were fascinating. Under normal circumstances, when AT&T and Verizon want House Republicans to do something, they usually do it. AT&T and Verizon wanted Waxman's bill, sensing a win. Amazingly, however, House Republicans balked. Call this the Tea Party influence on telecom. Some Tea Party groups filed a comment with the FCC asking the Commission not to "regulate the Internet." Remarkably, their letter, from a batch of grass-roots organizations, used the same talking points as inside-Washington players like the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and Americans for Tax Reform, when referring, for example to the "depression-era" Communications Act. So what we had here were some "grassroots" groups using industry talking points to kill a bill that the telecom industry now wanted - or at least said it could support. Ah, irony. Make no mistake. This was an ugly process. Friends turned on friends, coalitions were fractured, hard decisions were made.

And yet, at the end of the day, one clear defining message came out of it, and it bears repeating. The chairman of the House Commerce Committee said that the FCC "must act." Waxman's directive couldn't be any clearer. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has his marching orders. It's time for him to hit the road and get it done.

No network neutrality plan from Congress, so now what?

With House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) throwing in the towel on network neutrality legislation, what happens next? This development definitely drives this clunker back to the Federal Communications Commission's garage. The FCC has been kicking the network neutrality ball down the road for months. The matter is noticeably absent from the agency's October Open Commission meeting, as it was in September.

And public interest groups are already making the obvious point. If Congress can't deal with this question, it's time for the FCC to punt.

"We are in full agreement with Chairman Waxman that the FCC must act now to protect consumers by reinstating its authority over broadband," declared Gigi Sohn at Public Knowledge. "We can wait no longer. We expect those members of Congress who argued that it was Congress' duty to set telecommunications policy would recognize the authority of the FCC in the absence of legislation."

Net Neutrality Opponent Calls Out Net Neutrality Proponent

[Commentary] As a longtime Democrat, it concerns me greatly when our side of the aisle starts sounding just like the Tea Party.

Democrats are supposed to be the party of jobs. On technology issues, we're supposed to be working constructively with labor, with the creative classes (artists, musicians, songwriters, film makers) to build a digital economy that creates jobs and economic well-being. But, just like the Tea Party, we're in danger of being hijacked by an angry and vocal minority so convinced of the absolute piety of their niche cause that they'll demonize anyone (including fellow Democrats) who get in their way. Against a backdrop of anemic U.S. economic growth and continued high unemployment, the net neutrality one-notes at Free Press have hijacked what should be our broader economic agenda. They continue to suck up all of the oxygen inside the beltway over an issue that very few Americans care about or have ever paid any attention to.

[Carnes is President, Songwriters Guild of America]

Congress turns down the volume on TV commercials

The Senate passed a bill Sept 29 that would create limits on the volume of television commercials and put the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in charge of regulating them. The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM) is an attempt to put an end to TV commercials that are many times louder than regular programming, a problem that has annoyed viewers for decades.

The bill passed the House in December and will have to go back there for one last vote before President Obama is expected to sign it into law. "Every American has likely experienced the frustration of abrasively loud television commercials," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who introduced the bill in the Senate. "While this may be an effective way for ads to grab attention, it also adds unnecessary stress to the daily lives of many Americans. Last night's action in the Senate will help end this annoying practice." The bill's original author, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), said that she intended for the legislation to give control of sound back to consumers. The bill would limit commercials to the same level of volume as the shows they interrupt.

Bill from Rep Honda would create office of STEM education

Calling the country "woefully inequipped" to teach students about science and math, Rep Mike Honda (D-CA) introduced a bill that would create an office to oversee federal efforts in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. As a former science teacher and educator for over 30 years, Rep Honda said America is lagging behind other developed nations in technical fields and needs better coordination among stakeholders to improve outcomes. His comments echo those from President Obama when he announced the White House will be attempting to recruit and train 10,000 new STEM teachers over the next two years.

Honda's bill would create an Office of STEM in the Department of Education at the assistant-secretary level in charge of coordinating all federal efforts to boost STEM education. It would also establish a voluntary consortium where states can collaborate to develop common standards for STEM in K-12 education. Finally, there will be a repository where educators can research the lastest innovations in STEM. Honda said this bill is a precursor to comprehensive legislation he plans to introduce early next year that will provide a blueprint for improving STEM education nationwide. He noted that in 2006 the federal government spent over $3 billion on 105 STEM programs at 15 different federal agencies without demonstrating any improvement in students' performance.

FCC Telephone Trend Report

The Federal Communications Commission released its Trends in Telephone Service report, which summarizes in one convenient reference source information published in various reports over the course of the past year. The report provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the telephone industry coming from consumers, members of Congress, other government agencies, telecommunications carriers, and members of the business and academic communities.

Live sports keep people from cutting cable cord

Cord-cutters are no threat to the subscription TV industry as long as sports fans are around.

BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield conducted a survey of 1,200 multichannel TV subscribers and found that only a tiny percentage were likely to ditch their cable or satellite TV subscriptions in favor of online video, even though many more said they had considered it. The draw of live sports and premium shows is just too much for couch potatoes, and is likely to stay that way for years to come. According to Greenfield's survey, 37 percent said they had at least thought about canceling their subscriptions and going online-only in order to save money. If it meant losing out on live sports or other favorite shows (particularly those that show live results), however, that number dropped to just eight percent. And, upon further examination of the data, Greenfield estimated that only five percent or less were actually willing to follow through on that claim, despite it apparently being "cool" to cut the cord.

It turns out that 93.5 percent of the households surveyed by Greenfield said that they regularly watch football, and 68.4 percent watch baseball. Other favorites include Mad Men (which, by the way, is available next-day on iTunes), American Idol (broadcast TV, no cable required), House (broadcast), Glee (broadcast), True Blood (OK, you got us there with an HBO show, though it does show up on iTunes after the season is over), and Dancing with the Stars (broadcast). Judging by that list, it definitely seems as if the sports are indeed the major draw for keeping cable TV around, since almost all of the other shows can be watched within a reasonable time frame without cable.

James O'Keefe And A Media Movement Gone Mad

[Commentary] What is wrong with these people? That's a refrain that goes through my brain many times each week, and I'm sure goes through the minds of my Media Matters colleagues as we monitor the right-wing media and continue to be dumbstruck by what passes for content. Granted, players there have never gotten bogged down in details, and have rarely let the facts get in the way of a good, liberal-hating yarn. This is, after all, a team that's led onto the field everyday by a chronic liar, Rush Limbaugh. So the bar has never been set very high. But since Obama's Inauguration, there has been a frightening, wholesale change within the oxymoronic world known as "conservative journalism." Bottom line: There's no adult supervision, which allows the likes of James O'Keefe to rush to the front of the right-wing media line. And to be honest, he doesn't look that out of place standing along side such committed fabricators as Glenn Beck or Pam Geller or Jim Hoft or Andrew Breitbart, or Fill In the Blank for whomever is making right-wing headlines these days describing Obama in the most fanatical and hateful way possible.

[Boehlert is a Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America]

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