January 2011

We Fear for Our Online Privacy, But Do Little to Protect It

We are all concerned about online privacy, but not enough to do much about it, apparently. Americans are more afraid of having their online privacy violated in some way than they are about declaring bankruptcy or losing their jobs, according to a new survey from Opera Software and market-research company YouGov that was released today to coincide with Data Privacy Day. But despite these fears, fewer than two-thirds of those surveyed used safe passwords, only about half deleted their browsing history, and just 15 percent used software that made it difficult for websites to collect personal information. Which raises the question: as more web browsers like Firefox and IE9 are offering “do not track” options for users, will anyone actually use them?

FCC Asks Court To Dismiss Network Neutrality Lawsuits

Government lawyers filed motions Jan 28 asking a judge to dismiss lawsuits seeking to overturn new rules designed to protect the open Internet. In documents filed with the US Court of Appeals for Washington (DC), lawyers for the Federal Communications Commission call the lawsuits by Verizon and MetroPCS "fatally premature" and argue that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case. The FCC asked the court to dismiss the challenge because it was filed before the network neutrality rules were published in the Federal Register. "The rules that govern when and how parties may challenge FCC orders are clear, and Verizon and MetroPCS filed too early when they challenged the Open Internet order," a senior FCC official said.

ONC adds $80M to extension centers, HIEs and workforce programs

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has awarded a total of $80 million more for its regional extension center, state health information exchange and community college workforce programs to boost their support of providers becoming meaningful users of electronic health records.

More funds will strengthen the momentum of these programs, which ONC launched last year, as physicians and hospitals begin to register for the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Programs. For extension centers (RECs), which offer local technical assistance to individual physicians and small practices, ONC has provided $32 million in additional funds. The money will accelerate outreach to providers to encourage their registration in the EHR incentive program and to direct more staff in the field as providers adopt health IT in their practices, said Dr. David Blumenthal, the national health IT coordinator, in a Jan. 27 letter announcing the program awards.

Computers Hooking Up With TVs

According to SideReel, an independent Web TV destination with a base of more than 10 million monthly unique users, 40% of respondents had connected their computer to their TV in the past month, a three-fold increase over last year's results. 60% of people connecting a device to a TV connect their computer, and 5% use a box like Roku, Boxee or Google TV.

The survey was conducted to identify usage patterns in the areas of social media, Web TV, and the use of connected devices. The average user age in 2009 was 26, and in the 2010 results, 29, but the report notes that there is no correlation between age and time spent watching online. SideReel CEO, Roman Arzhintar, noted that "... for many, traditional TV watching is starting to supplement online watching, rather than the other way around." Social Media is important, but only for 25% of online TV watchers. While 29% used Twitter, none of the check-in services including GetGlue, Miso, Clicker or Foursquare have significant usage among SideReel's TV watchers. Only 10% of users want to broadcast what they are watching or want to watch to their friends. Only 25% of SideReelers want to know what their friends are watching - down 50% from last year. 24% of SideReel visitors subscribe to Netflix. 70 % of users who stream video via the Internet to their TV do so using Netflix. 30% of users stream video other than Netflix to their TVs.

Homeland Security moves full-speed-ahead on Einstein cybersecurity tool

The Homeland Security Department will finish by 2012 installing a somewhat controversial system, called Einstein 2, that monitors traffic on federal computer networks for potential intrusions, and will start the next phase of the application, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said during an address on the state of the agency.

The delivery began what she said will become an annual tradition akin to the president's State of the Union speech. Napolitano's remarks touched on the status and future of missions related to counterterrorism; border security and immigration; cybersecurity, science and technology; resilience and response; and recruiting. Einstein 2 alerts the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team to respond whenever it detects unauthorized users trying to access government systems. Einstein 3, which DHS began testing last year, automatically responds to certain threats. Privacy advocates have raised concerns that the extent of Einstein's information sharing is unknown because parts of the initiative are classified. But according to the department's privacy assessment, personnel have access to a limited amount of information on network traffic, and cannot see the content of that traffic.

AT&T exec: FCC will recommend 4 Mb/s broadband Universal Service target next month

The Federal Communications Commission on February 8 is likely to issue “some kind of order -- their vision of the way Universal Service will look in the future,” said AT&T Senior Vice President Bob Quinn.

“The order will be a vision of the end-state and the principals [the FCC] will use to achieve that end state.” The initial order then will generate a series of orders and notices of proposed rulemaking over the next several years, Quinn predicted. To get that process started, Quinn believes the FCC will issue several NPRMs at the February 8 meeting. One will propose modifications to the high-cost Universal Service program, one will involve traffic pumping, and another will address phantom traffic. Many concepts that the FCC will put forth in its vision for Universal Service reform will come from the National Broadband Plan, Quinn said. For example, he believes the FCC will recommend shifting support from voice to broadband, with a minimum 4 Mb/s downstream- 1 Mb/s upstream bandwidth target. As recommended in the NBP, AT&T also expects reverse auctions to figure into FCC recommendations at the upcoming meeting. AT&T Vice President of Federal Regulatory Hank Hultquist said that the FCC is likely to use reverse auctions first in awarding funding for areas that cannot get broadband today. As for areas that already have broadband but require ongoing support, Hultquist said he expects the FCC would more likely ask for comment on whether a reverse auction would be feasible.

Health IT could power era of personalized medicine

Health information technology has the power to drive advances in personalized medicine that will offer better-targeted treatments – and save the health system money – according to a new report from the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings.

Industry leaders are set to discuss the implications at a conference at Brookings. With federal officials pursuing the goal of a personal human genome map under $1,000 in five years it is possible to envision a future where treatments are tailored to individuals' genetic structures, prescriptions are analyzed in advance for likely effectiveness, and researchers study clinical data in real-time to learn what works, wrote Darrell West in the executive summary. West Is the founding director of the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings. "Implementation of these regimens creates a situation where treatments are better targeted, health systems save money by identifying therapies not likely to be effective for particular people, and researchers have a better understanding of comparative effectiveness," he adds, citing the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology 2010.

FCC Confuses Expropriation With Incentives

[Commentary] Wireless companies, seeking to bring mobile broadband to America, are willing to pay billions of dollars for more spectrum. Television broadcasters, some in bankruptcy and all with cloudy futures, might be eager to sell. Unlocking broadcast spectrum to immediate wireless use would take a one-page order and would lead to countless new jobs for American workers and better wireless services for consumers.

In a well-functioning market, broadcasters would sell spectrum to wireless operators. But American markets are far from well-functioning. Federal rules prohibit broadcast spectrum from being used for other purposes. America is falling behind the technology frontier for new wireless services to the detriment of American innovators, workers and consumers. Surprisingly, rather than develop a simple market solution and take credit for the rescue of the American economy, President Obama's Federal Communications Commission is pursuing a path to nowhere. The path, entangled in endless rules and insoluble problems, is euphemistically called "incentive auctions." It will yield no immediate new spectrum for wireless services. Worse, it puts the federal government in the position of effectively expropriating property from private broadcasters and selling it to other private interests.

Why are the misnamed incentive auctions all the rage in Washington?

[Furchtgott-Roth is a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission]

Broadband goes to fiber optics

Broadband customers throughout northwest Kansas are being switched over on a regular basis to the new fiber optic network that is at the core of a massive three-year project undertaken by Rural Telephone.

Already, more than 1,800 customers in nearly a dozen northwest Kansas exchanges have been "cut over," according to Larry Sevier, Rural's CEO and general manager. Part of a $101 million project, Rural Telephone, based in Lenora, is rushing headlong into converting 21 communities in 11 northwest Kansas counties to high-speed broadband. Most of that will be through fiber optic cable -- laid all the way to a customer's home, generally known as fiber to the premises. There also have been instances of people being switched from simple dial-up Internet to WiMax, high-speed wireless technology. The project is right on schedule, Sevier said. Rural was the first Recovery Act broadband project selected in the nation and is the first to connect customers. The new technology has been made available in cities including Almena, Athol, Collyer, Damar, Gove, Hill City, Bogue, Long Island, Morland, Norcatur, Phillipsburg and Hoxie. Work also is under way in Palco and in rural areas near Stockton and Plainville.

The Truth Behind the PBS/KCET Split

Al Jerome, CEO and president of KCET Los Angeles, says the reason his station decided to move away PBS was not because KCET thought it could and should do without shows like Nova, Masterpiece, and Frontline -- as some industry insiders have alleged -- but because the Public Broadcasting Service unfairly increased KCET’s yearly membership fees just before the economy tanked, was “completely intractable” during negotiations, and made it impossible for KCET to remain a carrier because of PBS’s archaic dues formula and alleged pig-headed management. This perfect storm of stubbornness left KCET no other choice but to pull out or face bankruptcy, said Jerome, a former PBS boardmember, and could be indicative of why 74 percent of PBS’s member stations have had operational deficits in the last three years and why the system as a whole has been losing money since 2002.

Benton

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