March 9, 2011 (Network Neutrality; Spectrum)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011
Network Neutrality is just one of many topics on this busy day http://benton.org/calendar/2011-03-09/
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
FCC's Genachowski: Market Analysis Was Integral To New Net Neutrality Rules
Network neutrality hearing preview: Dem memo
Analyst: FCC Order Could Cripple ISPs, Fuel Customer Cannibalization
AT&T's Cicconi to portray net neutrality as lesser of two evils
Free Press Slams Network Neutrality Resolution As 'Dangerous'
NCTA's McSlarrow Explains Support For Net Neutrality Order
CTIA: FCC Net Regulations Won't Boost Jobs or Economy
Consumer Reports/Consumer Federation Of America say poll supports FCC's new Network Neutrality rules
What price the Cloud?
MORE INTERNET/BROADBAND
Improving Our Nation's Cybersecurity Through the Public-Private Partnership
EarthLink Completes Phase I of Eastern Tennessee Middle Mile Fiber Broadband Project
State Department may lose anti-censorship cash
California should end online sales tax break
SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
FCC Seeks Comment on Spectrum for Broadband
Levin: MPEG-4 Migration Should Be Spectrum Plan Broadcasters Can Get Behind
Small broadcasters push back against FCC spectrum grab
Sprint, Deutsche Telekom Said to Discuss T-Mobile USA Merger
How Many Wireless Networks Can the US Support?
Making Your Wi-Fi Free to Roam
WCAI: Cell overages save money for consumers
63% under 30 admit driving while on phone
AT&T dares cable companies to cut cable with Wi-Fi STB
UNIVERSAL SERVICE
NTCA offers alternatives to proposed Universal Service reforms
Flawed USF white paper based on faulty assumptions about fund mechanics
PUBLIC BROADCASTING
NPR Should Get No More Taxpayer Funding: House GOP's Cantor
Keep funding PBS
CONTENT
A Vaster Wasteland
Learning to Love the (Shallow, Divisive, Unreliable) New Media
Supremes to decide if public domain works can be re-copyrighted
PRIVACY
FTC Releases List of Top Consumer Complaints in 2010; Identity Theft Tops the List Again
FTC Pushes Industry
Facebook develops new privacy policy
HEALTH
Review of recent studies shows predominantly positive results for health information technology
A SHARP Milestone A New Innovation Challenge
Cartoon Characters Neutralize Healthful Cereal Messages
POLICYMAKERS
End of the Julius Genachowski era may come soon at the FCC
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Internet by the Minute Lures Mobile Users in Emerging Markets
Canadians’ Internet usage nearly double the worldwide average
New net rules set to make cookies crumble
MORE ONLINE
At the 'Bleeding Edge' of Public Safety
Canada regulator approves BCE's takeover of CTV
Free Press President Josh Silver Stepping Down; Craig Aaron to Take the Helm
The Battle for Unified Communications Heats Up
Digital Learning in the 21st Century
craigconnects: getting everyone in the world together for the common good via the Internet
Libya Again Dominates the News
New TV and social media trend among the youth
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
FCC MARKET ANALYSIS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski says the FCC conducted economic analysis on net neutrality rules -- citing a number of graphs in the order -- and said he is keeping the Title II docket open because it is "an open, public process" launched less than a year ago "to consider the adequacy of the current legal framework within which the Commission promotes investment and innovation in, and protects consumes of, broadband Internet service," and does so "without proposing any particular agency action." In a letter to House Commerce Committee leadership, Chairman Genachowski a market analysis was "an integral part of the Commission's effort to develop an open Internet policy..." The result, he maintained, had been a "light-touch" approach. He said the order also weighed the costs and benefits of the rules, and included input from Google. Facebook, Amazon, eBay and others that "the Internet's openness is a critical component of its contribution to economic growth." Those opposed to codifying the rules have also argued they are for openness, but say marketplace forces are a sufficient governor. Chairman Genachowski also argued that one of the keys to the order was ensuring small businesses can have open access to the 'net to create jobs and innovate and compete.
Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), and Vice Chairman Lee Terry (R-NE) replied:
"We share Chairman Genachowski’s goal to ensure the Internet remains open, which is exactly why we oppose the FCC’s decision to impose unprecedented government regulations on a currently thriving and open Internet. Over the last several months, the FCC has failed to provide a compelling justification for its power-grab. The analysis the FCC points to in its order does little more than summarize the comments of parties and provide conclusory statements. The committee will continue to scour the referenced text for a glimmer of legitimate analysis, but frankly we expect more from an ‘expert’ agency. The truth is imposing these rules will cause more harm than good by stifling innovation, investments and jobs."
benton.org/node/52302 | Broadcasting&Cable | House Commerce Committee | MediaPost
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STAFF MEMO
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
A House Communications Subcommittee staff memo notes Democrats' concerns about the network neutrality repeal process. The memo in advance of a March 9 and markup indicates they would prefer Republicans use a normal bill, rather than a Congressional Review Act resolution, to fight the regulations. (Democrats would prefer no repeal effort at all; they support the regulations). The GOP can block amendments on a resolution of disapproval, but not on ordinary legislation.
benton.org/node/52305 | Hill, The
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KOVACS TESTIMONY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Former investment analyst Anna-Maria Kovacs will tell the House Communications Subcommittee on March 9 that the Federal Communications Commission's new network neutrality rules, which apply to Internet service providers but not Web application or content companies (like Google and Amazon), appear to be based on the belief that edge services are "embryonic," while the core network is "mature and static," an assumption that could wind up crippling ISPs, harm both sides and lead to force customer cannibalism. Kovacas says that while transport is provided free by ISPs to applications providers, including content and service providers, those ISPs have to compete with them on the application level. "The Order restricts the carriers' flexibility in designing their business plans, limits their sources of revenue, dictates that they spend capital to expand their networks at the edge-providers' will, and forces them to subsidize competitors who cannibalize their customer base," says Kovacs, while leaving applications providers free to "transform their business plans at will." She plans to tell legislators that the order is essentially a transfer of wealth from ISPs to applications providers. She said that could cripple ISPS, "forcing them to subsidize competitors who cannibalize their customer base." But added that could also harm applications providers.
benton.org/node/52313 | Broadcasting&Cable
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AT&T TESTIMONY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
AT&T's top policy executive Jim Cicconi is schedule to testify before the House Communications Subcommittee on March 9. He's expected to portray network neutrality regulations as the lesser of two evils. Industry saw the rules as preferable to more stringent regulations floated by the FCC and came to a compromise deal on net neutrality last year. AT&T and the cable industry group said they could tolerate the rules but saw them as unnecessary. Cicconi will note a desire by his company to have regulatory certainty and move past the debate that has consumed telecom policy for the past debate. Republicans have questioned why AT&T and NCTA are tolerating the regulations. They have also said the FCC backed industry into a corner on this issue by floating tougher "Title II" rules.
benton.org/node/52300 | Hill, The
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FREES PRESS TESTIMONY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On March 9, Free Press Research Director Derek Turner is expected to tell the House Communications Subcommittee that his organization opposed the Federal Communications Commission's new network neutrality regulations, but it has no desire to see it overturned by House Republicans. "While aspects of the rule may be flawed, any attempt to repeal it leaves Internet users fundamentally unprotected," Turner plans to tell the Subcommittee. "Members of this body may be uncomfortable with the precise contours of the FCC's rules," he said, which was something of an understatement when applied to the Republican leadership. They have unequivocally slammed the rules as regulatory overreach that will chill investment. He pointed out that Free Press itself had opposed the order, but because it felt the FCC had not gone far enough in protecting Internet openness. Turner says invalidating rules will "remove the FCC's current weak and industry-blessed rules and prevent the FCC from addressing the most blatant forms of discrimination and anti-competitive activities at any point in the future."
benton.org/node/52294 | Broadcasting&Cable
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NCTA ON NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow said in a letter to the Hill that the association supports the Federal Communications Commission's new network neutrality rules -- ones he helped negotiate -- but primarily because they "largely" codify what cable operators already do, provide at least some measure of regulatory certainty, and beats the alternative of Title II classification.
"I believe the Order, reached after months of negotiation and compromise, represented a good faith effort on the part of Chairman Genachowski and his staff to accomplish those goals and avoid those risks," McSlarrow wrote.
McSlarrow offered four reasons NCTA supports the rules:
1) it largely codifies the status quo practices to which the industry has voluntarily committed;
2) it contains helpful clarifying language around such issues as what constitutes 'reasonable network management;'
3) it provides greater certainty about our ability to manage and invest in our broadband services today and those we may deploy in the future ; and
4) the alternative of Title II regulation (which had three likely FCC votes in support and was the only likely alternative), with the attendant risks of unbundling and rate regulation, presented a stark and much worse risk to continued investment and job creation."
McSlarrow suggested the regulations would not boost the economy or jobs, but would allow for continued investment, return on investment, and job creation. At best, if administered "modestly," and with "regulatory humility," he suggested, the regulations would "promote continued investment and job creation." But he also had a warning for the legislators. "if implemented and enforced in ways that are more expansive than the plain language of the Order supports, there could certainly be an adverse economic impact by chilling the willingness to deploy new services," he said. "Continued" was the operative word in all McSlarrow's responses about what the regulations would do, making the point that the industry would be doing these things without the regulations as well. He reiterated that he thought the rules were "a solution in search of a problem." Asked whether it as fair that the regulations apply to ISP's but not Web companies cable competes with, McSlarrow said it was better to have "a light regulatory touch for everyone in the Internet ecosystem, than a heavy and counterproductive regulatory regime on part or all of the Internet ecosystem."
benton.org/node/52298 | Broadcasting&Cable
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CTIA LETTER
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In a letter to the House Communications Subcommittee, Steve Largent -- head of wireless lobbying organization CTIA -- says that the Federal Communications Commission's new network neutrality rules won't boost the economy, increase jobs or investment, weren't necessary and were essentially the lesser of two evils. He does not believed the rules were necessary. Asked whether it was equitable that the regulations apply to wireless but not to web companies, he refused to argue for regulating them. "CTIA does not believe that there need to be rules applied to the wireless industry," he said, "nor have we sought to impose regulation of this sort on others who are part of the broadband ecosystem." Asked whether he supported the FCC's order, of whether it was just better than the FCC's other proposals, he said that it was not necessary but, "we certainly view it as preferable to the Title II regulation advanced by some parties."
benton.org/node/52295 | Broadcasting&Cable
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CU/CFA SURVEY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
A new poll released by Consumers Union and the Consumer Federal of America found that a majority of respondents who said the Internet was important to them found practices like tiering service, paid prioritization, and service degradation "problematic." The study also found that, by a margin of four to one, consumers wanted either Congress or the Federal Communications Commission to adopt policies to insure access. The report was released on the eve of the House Communications Subcommittee markup of a resolution that would invalidate the FCC's new network neutrality rules that, among other things, would prevent discriminatory access to services or applications.
benton.org/node/52315 | Broadcasting&Cable | read the report
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WHAT PRICE THE CLOUD?
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Holman Jenkins Jr]
[Commentary] An unappreciated wild card in the cloud revolution is the price and availability of broadband, especially mobile broadband. A fight in Canada, which is just ahead of the U.S. in introducing usage-based pricing, has bloggers and politicians accusing Bell Canada of unconscionable "profiteering" from usage caps. The company, they rage, is reaping huge fees for additional units of bandwidth that cost Bell Canada virtually nothing to provide. This critique, which is common, could not more comprehensively miss the point. Another car on the roadway poses no additional cost on the road builder; it imposes a cost on other road users. Likewise, network operators don't use overage penalties to collect their marginal costs but to shape user behavior so a shared resource won't be overtaxed. Net neutrality lobbyists in Washington are already in cognitive meltdown over the challenges that the video explosion poses to their hobby horse. You can see it in their attacks on MetroPCS, which has come out with a new low-priced mobile Web service that picks and chooses which Web resources users can tap. It won't let you use Netflix. It won't let you use Skype. The religion of net neutrality is offended by this, but who's to say consumers can't judge for themselves if the restrictions are worth the price? Yet every other potential solution is also opposed by the net neut crowd, including metered pricing. And landing with a thud is a new A.T. Kearney report promoting the ultimate net neut bête noire. It finds the economics of the Internet "ultimately unsustainable" unless bandwidth costs are somehow shifted back to the shoulders of the big traffic generators, the Netflixes and Googles, if only to give them an incentive to use bandwidth efficiently. All along, what the net neut crazies have lacked in intellectual consistency they've made up in fealty to the business interests of companies that fear their services would become unattractive if users had one eye on a bandwidth meter. That's why opposition to "Internet censorship" morphed into opposition to anything that might price or allocate broadband capacity rationally. But such a stance is rapidly becoming untenable, whether the beneficiary is Google, with its advertising-based business model, or Netflix, Apple, Amazon and others who hope to capitalize on the entertainment-streaming opportunity. All are betting heavily on the cloud. All need to start dealing realistically with the question of how the necessary bandwidth will be paid for.
benton.org/node/52356 | Wall Street Journal
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MORE INTERNET/BROADBAND
CYBERSECURITY WHITE PAPER
[SOURCE: Center for Democracy and Technology, AUTHOR: Press release]
For the first time, industry groups and civil liberties interests have come together to advocate a comprehensive, common approach to cybersecurity. That approach is reflected in the release of a cybersecurity white paper that rejects government mandates and advocates for a stronger partnership between industry and government. The 20-page white paper is a joint release from the Center for Democracy and Technology, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Software Alliance, TechAmerica, and the Internet Security Alliance.
The white paper makes a number of recommendations, including:
Government and industry should work together to strengthen international standards for cybersecurity, and the government should provide incentives for security levels that go beyond what the market delivers on its own.
Information sharing for cybersecurity purposes should be transparent and should comply with fair information practice principles.
A national cybersecurity R&D plan aimed at protecting the most critical and strategic national interests.
benton.org/node/52290 | Center for Democracy and Technology | read the paper | The Hill | National Journal
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ARRA FUNDED MIDDLE MILE PROJECT
[SOURCE: EarthLink, AUTHOR: Press release]
EarthLink announced the completion of Phase I of the Eastern Tennessee Middle Mile Fiber Broadband Project by its business communications segment EarthLink Business. In March of 2010, DeltaCom, Inc., now an EarthLink Business company, was awarded the $9.4 million in federal stimulus funding by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) through the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) to enable the network expansion. The Phase I network expansion includes a 343-mile overbuild of an existing diverse fiber optic route from Nashville to Knoxville and the addition of a new diverse fiber optic route from Knoxville to Chattanooga. This network expansion is now ready for wholesale SONET intercity transport service. Deployment of a new diverse fiber optic route from Knoxville to Blountville is underway and targeted to be ready for SONET transport service by the end of the first quarter of 2011. The final phase of the project, targeted for completion in the third quarter of 2011, includes the addition of five new interconnection points, including Cookeville, Oak Ridge, Cleveland, Sweetwater and Morristown, Tennessee. These communities are located in counties designated as underserved by Connected Tennessee, an independent non-profit organization that develops and implements effective strategies for technology deployment, use and literacy in Tennessee. The new network will not only enable broadband access for a number of core community institutions, including education and healthcare providers, but also allow Internet service providers to connect to the EarthLink network for intercity transport service. Combined with recent corporate acquisitions, this fiber broadband expansion also allows EarthLink Business to further expand network coverage and continue to build nationwide connectivity for businesses with locations across the US. When complete, this Federal grant funded project will comprise a fiber optic network of more than 500 miles in Eastern Tennessee which will provide middle mile broadband services to carrier customers, community anchor institutions, and last mile service providers in speeds up to 10Gbps.
benton.org/node/52251 | EarthLink
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS
SPECTRUM FOR BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
The Federal Communications Commission seek comment on the steps it can take to best promote wireless broadband deployment in the 1695-1710 MHz and 3550 3650 MHz bands recently identified by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for accommodating wireless broadband. The FCC also seeks input to inform ongoing assessment of several additional bands NTIA has identified for potential deployment of wireless broadband. These bands include the 1755 1850 MHz, 4200 4220 MHz and 4380-4400 MHz bands, and others identified by NTIA as candidates for commercial use.
The FCC seeks specific comment on whether and to what extent these bands could be made available for broadband deployment. It is particularly interested in comments on the following issues:
How do the technical assumptions upon which NTIA based its analyses affect how broadband services could be deployed in each band?
How do the conditions placed on the bands (e.g., exclusion zones) affect their usefulness for broadband deployment?
What types of broadband technologies could be deployed in these bands and is equipment readily available? Does this equipment meet the technical assumptions in NTIA's analyses? If not, how would the use of different technologies affect the availability of each band for broadband use?
Will future broadband services require paired spectrum bands and, if so, what are the most suitable band pairings for the spectrum identified by NTIA? If the spectrum identified by NTIA is not paired, what broadband technologies might be deployed?
Could broadband services share use of each band with Federal users and what techniques would be most effective for sharing (e.g., coordination in time, geography, or policy, and / or the use of cognitive technologies)? If sharing would not be feasible, what process should be used to relocate or phase out incumbent users (both Federal and non-Federal) and what are candidate relocation frequency bands?
(ET Docket No. 10-123)
benton.org/node/52278 | Federal Communications Commission
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LEVIN SUGGEST BROADCASTER INTEREST IN SPECTRUM PLAN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Broadband Plan architect Blair Levin is advising broadcasters to come up with a plan of their own for advancing their spectrum future--he suggests a move to the more spectrally efficient MPEG-4 transmission standard--rather than digging in their heels on the FCC's spectrum reclamation/repacking proposal. He says broadcasters "seem focused on their fear of incentive auctions, which is odd as most businesses would regard new options for monetizing an asset as a positive." Broadcasters have said they are willing to work with the FCC on a truly voluntary proposal. But they are increasingly arguing that the FCC's plan to move broadcasters who don't give up spectrum into what they see as more cramped and less efficient spectrum quarters in the VHF band doesn't sound like voluntary to them." Levin suggests broadcasters should be looking toward a more efficient transmission standard that could be a win-win for them and the government goal of freeing up spectrum. "They seem to be ignoring a critical question for their survival a decade from now: What is their future if they don't have a path to evolve to MPEG 4? And since MPEG 4 creates greater spectrum efficiency, why are they not proposing an evolutionary path that solves their business problem at the same time that it solves the government's concern for more spectrum in the market?' Instead of just thinking in the negative, which is how to stop something, they should be thinking in the positive, which is how to create something. The current M-PEG-2 standard does not accommodate 3-D. If 3D really takes off, and it is really great for sports, what does that do for the broadcast model if you don't have MPEG-4." Levin says that, since MPEG-4 is much more spectrally efficient, "what should happen is, broadcasters should come in and say: "Look, you guys want more spectrum, we need a path to evolve to MPEG-4, let's bring these two rivers together through the MPEG-4 evolution," he says. "If I were the broadcasters, instead of standing there and saying 'no' I would say, 'Hey, this is actually an opportunity.'
benton.org/node/52328 | Broadcasting&Cable
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SMALL STATIONS SEEK TO KEEP SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Radio & Television Business Report, AUTHOR: ]
A coalition of local television station operators, including operators of religious and low power stations, is preparing to stand firm to protect spectrum in the face of the Federal Communications Commission’s desire to repurpose parts of the television band for wireless broadband delivery. The group says that television broadcasters already did their part, turning over a wide swathe of spectrum as part of the transition to digital. They believe that the FCC should be looking elsewhere for future needs – putting a particular emphasis on putting spectrum being hoarded, which it says they are currently incentivized to do since it creates false scarcity and higher prices. The group says that the FCC has Channels 31-51 in its sights. They say the winning bidders will be the giant telecom corporations, as always, and the losers will be small, independent and local voices, along with the viewers who rely on them. Lee Miller, a Lufkin TX broadcaster and the outgoing Chairman of the National Religious Broadcasters TV Committee, said, “Broadcasting is the most efficient use of the spectrum. We have members of our coalition that have developed ‘free broadband’ models ready to deploy over the next 6-12 months using broadcast TV spectrum. The plan is simple and cheap, and it is here and now – harness the power of broadcasting – its ability to deliver the vast amount of common content with one transmission to thousands of citizens without wasting thousands of discrete individual one-on-one Internet connections.”
benton.org/node/52358 | Radio & Television Business Report
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HOW MANY WIRELESS NETWORKS CAN WE SUPPORT?
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Ryan Kim, Stacey Higginbotham]
Sprint and T-Mobile are reportedly back at it again, talking about a possible deal that would have Deutsche Telekom selling T-Mobile USA to Sprint in exchange for a stake in the combined company. And if the story wasn't T-Mobile in talks with Sprint it would likely involve one or the other in talks with LightSquared, the startup network backed by Harbinger Capital Partners, Clearwire or even MetroPCS. In fact, you can pretty much shuffle the players around and still find a story about them in some sort of talks or negotiations around spectrum or an outright merger. The fundamental question here is what can the U.S. market support, both in terms of carriers and in terms of the amount of spectrum available? The FCC clearly isn't worried about Verizon and AT&T, judging by its wireless competition report released last year, but how many more nationwide networks will survive? But ultimately, the latest rumors confirm that the wireless market is evolving quickly and what worked before — four national carriers with a gaggle of smaller competitors — may not work in the future as spectrum becomes more difficult to find and data usage booms. T-Mobile and Sprint may be today’s speculative couple, but this is a high-stakes game with a lot of players running down the clock waiting to see who they will team up with before their cash runs out.
benton.org/node/52282 | GigaOm
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WI-FI ROAMING
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
Most people take roaming agreements between cellular operators for granted, if they even think of them at all. These agreements — which allow consumers to wander in and out of a cellular coverage area without losing their calls — are set up between the major carriers for voice and even for data, but they may soon encompass Wi-Fi. According to a Cisco product manager, operators are becoming more interested in Wi-Fi roaming, which could enable consumers to hop onto more Wi-Fi networks and may even make such hopping seamless. The rationale for Wi-Fi roaming is simple. Carriers need it to deliver a good customer experience. The demand for mobile data will far exceed the capacity of cellular networks according to most sources, so having a decent alternative network that can handle data makes sense. Cisco, for example, predicts that mobile data will grow 26-fold in the next four years. Much of that growth will come from video, which is more challenging to stream over networks, since it depends on a continuous connection of bits that are assembled in real time to make up the content, as opposed to a single download that can be reassembled later.
benton.org/node/52258 | GigaOm
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HIGHER CELLPHONE BILLS SAVE YOU MONEY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
Wireless Communications Association International, a wireless industry group, claims that extra wireless charges help save money for cell phone users. In WCAI's own words, a new study "shows cellphone plan overages save consumers money." The group released a paper about fees on cell phone bills that appear when consumers talk or text more than their plan allows. When the wireless industry collects these charges, that saves money for consumers, according to the paper. WCAI didn't demand so much as a "thank you" for this service. Rather, it demanded the Federal Communications Commission abandon prospective regulations compelling wireless providers to alert consumers when they are about to surpass their monthly limits. The group -- which includes AT&T, Google, Sprint, and Clearwire, among others -- is more or less alone in publicly arguing that bill shock requirements are anti-consumer.
benton.org/node/52292 | Hill, The
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DISTRACTED DRIVING
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Jim Fitzgerald]
Car crashes are the leading cause of teen deaths. Nearly 5,500 people in the U.S. were killed in distracted driving accidents in 2009. And according to a poll LaHood released, 63% of drivers under 30 acknowledge using a handheld phone while behind the wheel. 30% say they've sent text messages while driving. "Distracted driving has become a deadly epidemic on America's roads, and teens are especially vulnerable because of their inexperience behind the wheel and, often, peer pressure," said Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. He came to the headquarters of Consumer Reports magazine to announce a partnership aimed at getting young people to realize that "the safest way to get from one place to another is to hang up and drive." The program includes a flier that lists six steps parents can take, including setting a good example and setting and enforcing ground rules. The brochure is available online and will be distributed to schools and volunteer groups; a public service announcement has been produced and is being sent to TV stations nationwide; and a video meant to be played in retail stores including Wal-Mart could be seen by as many as 100 million people, Sec LaHood said.
benton.org/node/52288 | Associated Press | Consumers Union
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UNIVERSAL SERVICE
NTCA USF ALTERNATIVES
[SOURCE: Connected Planet, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The Federal Communications Commission should take a “surgical” approach toward Universal Service reforms, said Mike Romano, senior vice president of policy for the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. As policymakers undertake the process of transitioning today’s voice-focused Universal Service and access charge system to focus on broadband deployment, for example, Romano said they should recognize that “rural telcos have already done a terrific job of using funds for this purpose today.” Romano also noted that the rate of return system has worked well to support broadband deployment and Romano suggested that policymakers should tweak the ROR system rather than “throw it away altogether.” Not surprisingly, Romano also argued that attempts to restrain the size of the Universal Service fund shouldn't be based on arbitrary caps. Although the overall size of the high-cost fund has grown sharply in recent years, he argued that the growth in payments to small rural telcos has seen a compound annual growth rate of only 3%.
benton.org/node/52255 | Connected Planet
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RESPONSE TO USF REPORT
[SOURCE: National Exchange Carrier Association, AUTHOR: Press release]
Representatives of the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA), the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA), the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO), the Rural Alliance, and the Western Telecommunications Alliance (WTA) refuted inaccurate assertions in a recently released white paper that a substantial portion of federal Universal Service Fund (USF) support goes to discretionary corporate expenses. They found that faulty assumptions and erroneous calculations led the paper to overstate dramatically the portion of USF that supports such expenses. The paper, “The Universal Service Fund: What Do High-Cost Subsidies Subsidize?,” is based on a review of USF high-cost loop data submitted by NECA to the Federal Communications Commission. It asserts that “of each dollar distributed to recipient firms, about $0.59 goes to ‘general and administrative expenses.’” The associations, however, have identified several faults with the methodology used in — and the conclusion reached by — the paper.
First and foremost, the FCC’s recently released notice of proposed rulemaking observed that corporate expenses account for only 13% of high-cost loop support—not the 59% claimed in the paper. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates a fatal misunderstanding of how expenses are actually supported by USF. Strict application of the paper’s methodology (i.e., correlating any given expense account to federal high-cost loop support) would yield the impossible proposition that in aggregate a single dollar of USF support pays for more than $1.00 of expenses.
benton.org/node/52319 | National Exchange Carrier Association | read about the paper
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PUBLIC BROADCASTING
REP CANTOR CALLS FOR END TO PUBCASTING
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Frank James]
The congressional effort to end federal funding for NPR received new impetus after a video surfaced of an executive who was the public-radio network's top fundraising official when he made controversial remarks about Republicans, conservatives and the Tea Party movement. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said:
"As we continue to identify ways to cut spending and save valuable resources, this disturbing video makes clear that taxpayer dollars should no longer be appropriated to NPR. Not only have top public broadcasting executives finally admitted that they do not need taxpayer dollars to survive, it is also clear that without federal funds, public broadcasting stations self-admittedly would become eligible for more private dollars on top of the multi-million dollar donations these organizations already receive. At a time when our government borrows 40 cents of every dollar that it spends, we must find ways to cut spending and live within our means. This video clearly highlights the fact that public broadcasting doesn't need taxpayer funding to thrive, and I hope that admission will lead to a bipartisan consensus to end these unnecessary federal subsidies."
benton.org/node/52316 | National Public Radio
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KEEP FUNDING PBS
[SOURCE: Detroit News, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Republicans in the U.S. House placed financing for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on the chopping block a few weeks ago, passing a bill that would cut all funding for public TV and radio stations across the country. While we appreciate the need for fiscal responsibility, the continuation of a common cultural touchstone justifies the expense. Considering the millions of Americans who benefit from public programming, the annual contribution of $1.35 per person doesn't seem like a bad investment.
benton.org/node/52242 | Detroit News
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CONTENT
A VASTER WASTELAND
[SOURCE: The Atlantic, AUTHOR: Newton Minow]
[Commentary] Fifty years ago, I stood before the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters for my inaugural public address as President Kennedy’s chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. My first objective in the job was to clean up the agency and the industry, which before I arrived had been embroiled in quiz-show, payola, and agency scandals. My second was to expand choice for viewers, by advancing new technologies in the belief that more choice would result in more and better content. My objective at the convention was to tell broadcasters that the FCC would enforce the law’s requirement that they serve the public interest in return for their free and exclusive use of the publicly owned airwaves. Too much existing programming, I said, was little more than “a procession of game shows violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons.” Television, I said, was too often a “vast wasteland.” But those were not the two words I intended to be remembered. The two words I wanted to endure were public interest. To me that meant, as it still means, that we should constantly ask: What can communications do for our country? For the common good? For the American people? The next 50 years will see even more technological miracles, including the marriage of computers, television, telephony, and the Internet. What we need, to accompany these changes, are critical choices about the values we want to build into our 21st-century communications system -- and the public policies to support them. I believe we should commit to six goals in the next 50 years.
Expand freedom, in order to strengthen editorial independence in news and information.
Use new communications technologies to improve and extend the benefits of education at all levels, preschool through postgraduate.
Use new technologies to improve and extend the reach of our health-care system.
The nation’s communications infrastructure for public safety and local and national security is a dangerous disgrace -- Congress and the FCC must build and maintain a new and secure communications network as a national-security priority.
We need to give greater support to public radio and public television. Both have been starved for funds for decades, and yet in many communities they are essential sources of local news and information -- particularly public radio, which is relatively inexpensive to produce and distribute and is a valuable source of professionally reported news for millions of Americans.
If over-the-air television is to survive as a licensed service operating in the public interest, we must make better use of it in our politics.
benton.org/node/52246 | Atlantic, The
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PRIVACY
IDENTITY THEFT TOPS CONSUMER COMPLAINTS
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission released the list of top consumer complaints received by the agency in 2010. The list showed that for the 11th year in a row, identity theft was the number one consumer complaint category. Of 1,339,265 complaints received in 2010, 250,854 or 19 percent were related to identity theft. Debt collection complaints were in second place, with 144,159 complaints. The report breaks out complaint data on a state-by-state basis and also contains data about the 50 metropolitan areas reporting the highest per capita incidence of fraud and other complaints. In addition, the 50 metropolitan areas reporting the highest incidence of identity theft are noted. For the first time, “imposter scams” where imposters posed as friends, family, respected companies or government agencies to get consumers to send them money made the top 10. The FTC also has issued a new consumer alert, “Spotting an Imposter”, to help consumers avoid imposter scams.
The top consumer complaints were:
Identity Theft
Debt Collection
Internet Services
Prizes, Sweepstakes and Lotteries
Shop-at-Home and Catalog Sales
benton.org/node/52280 | Federal Trade Commission | WashPost | LATimes
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HEALTH
HEALTH IT STUDIES
[SOURCE: Department of Heath and Human Services, AUTHOR: Press release]
A study completed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and published in the journal Health Affairs finds growing evidence of the benefits of health information technology (HIT). Using methods that were employed by two previous independent reviews, the new study finds that 92 percent of articles on HIT reached conclusions that showed overall positive effects of HIT on key aspects of care including quality and efficiency of health care. In addition, the study finds increasing evidence of benefits for all health care providers, not just the larger health IT “leader” organizations (i.e., early adopters of HIT) that have provided much of the data regarding experience with HIT in the past. The previous reviews identified a gap between “leaders” and non-leaders in demonstrating benefits from HIT. The review included articles published from July 2007 up to February 2010, following up on earlier reviews of articles from 1995 to 2004 and from 2004 to 2007. This latest review initially surveyed more than 4,000 peer-reviewed articles, of which 154 were found qualified for the parameters of the study, a number similar to the previous efforts. The current review found positive results in 96 of the articles (62 percent), and mixed but predominantly positive results in 46 other articles (30 percent). Ten articles were found to have negative or mixed-negative results. In addition to quality and efficiency of care, the authors categorized additional outcomes including access to care, preventive care, care process, patient safety, and provider or patient satisfaction. The review also reflected a new balance of evidence between HIT “leader” organizations and other entities, especially smaller medical practices. In previous years, much evidence has come from the “leaders.” The current review shows increased evidence of benefits for others as well.
benton.org/node/52241 | Department of Heath and Human Services | Dr David Blumenthal | GovernmentHealthIT
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POLICYMAKERS
GENACHOWSKI TO COMMERCE?
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Sara Jerome]
There's some speculation that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski could be nominated to replace Commerce Sec Gary Locke. The White House would like to see a more decision-oriented FCC chairman who manages to incubate industry skirmishes at the agency rather than allowing them to seep over to Pennsylvania Avenue, sources said. Chairman Genachowski, for his part, is widely seen as ready to leave the FCC after a grueling tenure characterized by near-constant acrimony and a few trips to Capitol Hill to take fire from House Republicans. Genachowski has tangled with Senate Democrats as well. Becoming Commerce secretary would allow Genachowski to leave on a positive note, and the chairman is seen as having business connections that could be a benefit at Commerce. Industry sources said the ceremonial duties of the Commerce secretary position, which is heavy on promotion for the president’s agenda, might better suit Genachowski’s skill set. His focus on unleashing innovation syncs with the White House’s strong interest this year in promoting the technology industry, these sources noted. Others questioned, however, why Obama would want to nominate someone for the Cabinet who has become a polarizing figure on the right. It’s unclear how difficult a confirmation battle Genachowski would face in the Senate, but it’s certain he'd face tough questions on his FCC tenure. Yet it is also possible that because Genachowski has become controversial on Capitol Hill, his departure could help the agency move past net neutrality to accomplish other priorities, such as freeing up airwaves for mobile broadband and modernizing the system for telecom subsidies. Musical chairs at the FCC could make Genachowski an even more attractive pick, several sources said. Republican Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker and an as-yet-unannounced successor for Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps will need to make their way through Senate confirmation in the coming months, and a new chairman could be packaged as part of the process.
benton.org/node/52345 | Hill, The
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