September 2010

Global Free Flow of Information on the Internet

The Department of Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force is examining issues related to the global free flow of information on the Internet.

Specifically, the Department seeks public comment from all stakeholders, including the commercial, academic, and civil society sectors, on government policies that restrict information flows on the Internet. The Task Force seeks to understand why these restrictions have been instituted; what, if any, impact they have had on innovation, economic development, global trade and investment; and how best to address negative impacts.

After analyzing the comments responding to this Notice, the Department intends to publish a report which will contribute to the Administration's domestic policy and international engagement on these issues. This report will examine the impact that restrictions on the free flow of information on the Internet have on innovation, global economic growth, trade, and investment.

Comments are due on or before November 15, 2010.

House Minority Leader Boehner won't back Dems' network neutrality legislation

House GOP Leader John Boehner (R-OH) will not support a network neutrality bill developed by House Commerce Democrats, three House aides said.

GOP support for the legislation seemed plausible after some phone and cable companies began to push the bill. Industry groups view the measure -- crafted by House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) -- as preferable to the stricter regulations under development at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). If a "no" from the leadership means committee Republicans won't endorse, the bill might not see the light of day. House aides said they think Waxman is less likely to introduce the bill if it is not bipartisan.

Audio Recordings Of US History Fading Fast

New digital recordings of events in U.S. history and early radio shows are at risk of being lost much faster than older ones on tape and many are already gone, according to a study on sound.

Even recent history -- such as recordings from 9/11 or the 2008 election -- is at risk because digital sound files can be corrupted, and widely used CD-R discs only last three to five years before files start to fade, said study co-author Sam Brylawski. "I think we're assuming that if it's on the Web it's going to be there forever," he said. "That's one of the biggest challenges." The first comprehensive study of the preservation of sound recordings in the U.S., released by the Library of Congress, also found many historical recordings already have been lost or can't be accessed by the public. That includes most of radio's first decade from 1925 to 1935. Shows by musicians Duke Ellington and Bing Crosby, as well as the earliest sports broadcasts, are already gone. There was little financial incentive for such broadcasters as CBS to save early sound files, Brylawski said.

High court takes case on corporate privacy

The Supreme Court is getting involved in an unusual freedom of information dispute over whether corporations may assert personal privacy interests to prevent the government from releasing documents about them.

The Court agreed to a request from the Obama administration to take up a case involving claims made by telecommunications giant AT&T to keep secret the information gathered by the Federal Communications Commission during an investigation. The Administration wants the high court to rule that corporations may not claim a personal privacy exception contained in the federal Freedom of Information Act. The exception may be used only by individuals, the Administration said in a brief signed by Elena Kagan, the newest justice who served in the Justice Department until last month. AT&T wants the FCC to keep secret all the information it gathered from the company during an investigation into its participation in the federal E-Rate program, which helps schools and libraries get Internet access. The FCC had released some of the information under an open records request, but withheld some, citing FOIA exemptions that cover trade secrets and humans' right to privacy. A federal appeals court sided with AT&T.

(FCC v. AT&T, 09-1279)

NBC Universal leader warns high-speed broadband has created 'a bit of a warzone'

High-speed broadband connections emerging around the world have created a "pretty distressing outlook" for the media business, according to Peter Smith, president of NBC Universal International. Smith said that fast-speed connections had created "a bit of a warzone" for NBC in South Korea. He went on to highlight the transformation broadband had brought to the telecoms and broadcasting landscape, noting "47% of Koreans on a weekly basis download a movie for free illegally, so as a result of that, our DVD business, worth one billion dollars 12 years ago, is now worth 16 million, so that business is now gone." He said that high-speed Internet connections had also meant that NBC's TV business had declined in the region, with cable revenues so low that providers were unable to pay a premium price for content.

New Staff in FCC Bureaus

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced key senior agency staff in the Media Bureau (MB) and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB). These positions are MB Deputy Michelle Carey and WTB Deputy and Senior Advisor on New Technology Michael McKenzie.

Deputy Chief, Media Bureau, Michelle Carey: Ms. Carey will assist in shaping the Bureau's policies designed to facilitate competition in the multichannel video programming marketplace. Prior to this appointment, she was a Senior Advisor to Assistant Secretary Lawrence E. Strickling at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in the Department of Commerce. At NTIA, she assisted in the implementation of a key Recovery Act program, the $4.4 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. Ms. Carey has also worked at the Commission in a number of capacities during the past sixteen years, including Senior Legal Advisor to Chairman Martin, Deputy Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau, and Chief of the Competition Policy Division of the Wireline Competition Bureau. Before joining the Commission, she clerked for the Honorable Hart T. Mankin of the U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals. Ms. Carey received her B.A., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University and received her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Deputy Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Senior Advisor on New Technology, Michael McKenzie: Mr. McKenzie will oversee the Mobility and the Spectrum Management Resources & Technologies (SMaRT) divisions within WTB and help provide overall strategic direction for the Bureau's activities, including the Bureau's role in advancing the goals and recommendations of the National Broadband Plan. Mr. McKenzie will also focus on the FCC's consideration of the implications of emerging technologies and contribute to the Commission's work on America's innovation agenda. Prior to joining the FCC, Mr. McKenzie worked in senior-level legal, business development, and strategy positions. Most recently, Mr. McKenzie served as a General Manager at Microsoft, where he supported the company's worldwide enterprise cloud computing services. Prior to that, he served as Senior Director of Business Development & Strategy in the company's platforms division. Mr. McKenzie also practiced technology transactions law at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati and spent four years in the communications and electronic commerce practice group at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale), where he focused on wireless, international, and transactional matters. He started his career as a law clerk to Judge Theodore McKee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Raymond Finch of the U.S. District Court of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mr. McKenzie graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Virginia and received his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

"America has an innovation problem. And we need to solve it."

The House Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing to discuss findings and recommendations from the recently released report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5.

The updated report highlights progress that has been made in the past five years, including enactment of the America COMPETES Act, but underscores that America's competitive position in the world now faces greater challenges and that research investments are even more critical today.

The report urges reauthorization of COMPETES.

"For many years, I worked as an aircraft engineer and we often dealt with the dilemma of trying to make an overweight aircraft fly. We never solved the problem by removing an engine. Science funding is the engine of a thought-based economy. We cannot simply remove it," said Norm Augustine, chairman of the Gathering Storm Committee and former Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin.

"The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has challenged innovators to come up with truly novel ideas and "game changers." The program has high potential for long-term success, but only if it is given the autonomy, budget, and clear signals of support to implement needed projects," stated Charles Holliday, member of the Gathering Storm Committee and Chairman of the Board of Bank of America.

Witness Craig Barrett, also a member of the Gathering Storm and retired Chairman and CEO of Intel Corporation, put the issue simply,

Rep Boucher Moving Forward On Privacy Legislation

Privacy legislation aiming to protect consumers online will be introduced early next Congress House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) said.

"We want to make sure that electronic commerce is enhanced by giving to consumers' privacy protections that they don't have today," Rep Boucher said. The measure, currently in draft form, seeks to inform consumers about what personal information is collected by websites, how it is used, and empower Internet users to control that information. To that end, the proposed bill will encourage websites to adopt the following policies: make a user's preference profile available to him or her; allow the user to modify their profile; and allow the user, with one click, to opt-out of having most of their information collected. Some information, such as the type of a web browser an Internet user has, is needed by websites in order for them to function. One of the goals of the planned bill is to stop websites from selling consumer information to third parties without the consumer's knowledge about it.

New Law Changes IRS Rules on Cell Phones

President Barack Obama removed cell phones from the Internal Revenue Service listed property rule with the signing of the Small Business Jobs Act. As a result, cell phones provided by employers for personal use are no longer a taxable benefit under IRS rules.

The Mobile Cell Phone Act (HR 690) was first introduced in January 2009 and was sponsored by Rep. Samuel Johnson (R-TX) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) in the House and Senate, respectively.

Distrust in U.S. Media Edges Up to Record High

For the fourth straight year, the majority of Americans say they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly.

The 57% who now say this is a record high by one percentage point. The 43% of Americans who, in Gallup's annual Governance poll, conducted Sept. 13-16, 2010, express a great deal or fair amount of trust ties the record low, and is far worse than three prior Gallup readings on this measure from the 1970s. Trust in the media is now slightly higher than the record-low trust in the legislative branch but lower than trust in the executive and judicial branches of government, even though trust in all three branches is down sharply this year.

These findings also further confirm a separate Gallup poll that found little confidence in newspapers and television specifically. Nearly half of Americans (48%) say the media are too liberal, tying the high end of the narrow 44% to 48% range recorded over the past decade. One-third say the media are just about right while 15% say they are too conservative. Overall, perceptions of bias have remained quite steady over this tumultuous period of change for the media, marked by the growth of cable and Internet news sources. Americans' views now are in fact identical to those in 2004, despite the many changes in the industry since then. Lower-income Americans and those with less education are generally more likely to trust the media than are those with higher incomes and more education. A subgroup analysis of these data suggests that three demographic groups key to advertisers -- adults aged 18 to 29, Americans making at least $75,000 per year, and college graduates -- lost more trust in the media in the past year than other groups, but the sample sizes in this survey are too small to say so definitively.

Benton

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