March 2011

China plans to track cellphone users, sparking human rights concerns

China said it may begin tracking cellphone users in Beijing through location technology it hopes will help city authorities better manage traffic. But the announcement also sparked fresh concerns that the government may be using mobile technology to surveil its residents.

In an announcement, made through Beijing's Municipal People's Government Web site, the Chinese government said it would track 17 million cellphone users in Beijing through location technology to "publish real-time dynamic information to ease congestion and improve the efficiency of public travel." Beijing is notorious for its traffic congestion. Last August, a 60-mile jam into the capital city lasted nine days. The Chinese government is also notorious for its firm grip on the flow of information in and out of the country. Authorities have tapped into e-mail accounts of foreign journalists and Democracy activists and censored certain Web sites in the nation.

FCC to increase oversight of phone subsidy plan

Government regulators want to increase oversight of the federal program that subsidizes telephone service for low-income Americans. The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to study ways to bring more accountability to the $1.3 billion Lifeline/Link Up program.

Lifeline/Link Up is one of four programs that make up the $8 billion Universal Service Fund, which was created to ensure that all Americans have access to a basic telephone line. The fund is supported by a surcharge on long-distance bills. Among other things, the FCC will consider capping the size of Lifeline/Link Up. It will also explore creating a national database of users to validate eligibility and ensure that the program is only supporting one phone plan per household. In addition, the FCC wants to tap the program to subsidize high-speed Internet connections.

Gordon Smith on Spectrum Reclamation: We Won't Be Rolled

National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith appears on C-SPAN's The Communicators this week.

He says that broadcasters are willing to volunteer spectrum, but won't be "rolled" into a degraded position on the spectrum band. Asked whether broadcasters were hoarding spectrum, Smith said viewers needed to understand the difference between the way broadcasters use spectrum and how wireless uses spectrum. He pointed out that broadcasting is a one-to-many service, rather than the one-to-one model of wireless video delivery. He said that video is what creates the congestion, and broadcasting is a more efficient way to deliver video. "There is probably not enough spectrum in the universe to manage one-to-one video on every mobile device in the wi-fi broadband world," he said.

Leibowitz Nominated For Second Term as FTC Chair

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Jon Leibowitz, Commissioner and Chairman, Federal Trade Commission.

Leibowitz has been the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) since 2009. He has been an FTC Commissioner since 2004. Before his time at the FTC, Mr. Leibowitz served as vice president for congressional affairs for the Motion Picture Association of America from 2000 to 2004. Previously, he was the Democratic chief counsel and staff director for the U.S. Senate Antitrust Subcommittee from 1997 to 2000, where he focused on competition policy and telecommunications matters. He served as chief counsel and staff director for the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism and Technology from 1995 to 1996 and the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice from 1991 to 1994. In addition, he served as chief counsel to Senator Herb Kohl from 1989 to 2000 and worked for Senator Paul Simon from 1986 to 1987. Mr. Leibowitz received a B.A. in American History from the University of Wisconsin and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.

A Declaration of Cyber-War

Last summer, the world’s top software-security experts were panicked by the discovery of a drone-like computer virus, radically different from and far more sophisticated than any they'd seen. The race was on to figure out its payload, its purpose, and who was behind it. As the world now knows, the Stuxnet worm appears to have attacked Iran’s nuclear program. And, as Michael Joseph Gross reports, while its source remains something of a mystery, Stuxnet is the new face of 21st-century warfare: invisible, anonymous, and devastating.

Both sides spending heavily in ad wars in Wisconsin budget and labor dispute

Wisconsin’s budget battle has sparked a burgeoning ad war, with roughly $1.9 million spent on broadcast TV as of Feb 28.

Opponents of Gov. Walker’s plan had spent an estimated $1,031,500 statewide, while supporters of his plan had spent an estimated $831,000, according to CMAG, the ad-tracking firm that monitors political advertising around the country. The biggest spender as of Feb. 28 was the AFL-CIO at roughly $900,000, followed on the other side of the debate by the Wisconsin Club for Growth at roughly $700,000, according to CMAG. “Those are significant numbers,” said CMAG's Evan Tracey. “Everybody’s trying to lead the narrative … In these kinds of fights, with this much attention, you can't just sprinkle in an ad or two.” The numbers above do not include cable ads, which are also being aired. And because they do not include a flurry of new ads that have begun airing since Monday, total spending is probably significantly higher than $2 million. Tracey said the ad war is being waged not just in Milwaukee (the state’s biggest media market) and Madison (the state capital and scene of the protests) but in the state’s other TV markets of Green Bay, La Crosse/Eau Claire and Wausau/Rhinelander.

National Day of Unplugging this weekend

The National Day of Unplugging begins at sundown tonight and ends sundown Saturday.

The concern is that our collective technological obsession has our minds bouncing so rapidly (eyes back on the page, reader, you can check your Twitter feed later!) that we aren't focusing on anything or anyone for any real length of time. Consider how increasingly rare it is to get through a conversation or a meal without someone glancing at their phone. "We're not anti-technology," said Tanya Schevitz, a spokeswoman for the group. "But it's really that people need a break. If people pause, they can see how much it has impacted them."

Expanding Broadband and Other Communications Services in Native Nations

The Federal Communications Commission acted on several regulatory items to strengthen and expand communications services to Native Nations and their communities. The Commission held a Native Nations Day as part of its open meeting with a renewed focus on initiatives that will help expand access to vital communications, including broadband, wireless and radio services in these communities across the United States.

The meeting included public presentations from several Native Nation leaders, and afternoon nation-to-nation consultation sessions. The items adopted by the FCC include:

A Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on improving communications services for Native Nations that seeks comment on a number of issues, including greater broadband deployment, the need for a uniform definition of Tribal lands to be used agency-wide in rulemakings, and the importance of strengthening the FCC's nation-to-nation consultation process with Native Nations.
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on ways to expand the efficient use of spectrum over Tribal lands so as to improve access to mobile wireless communications, which will provide consumers with more choices on how they communicate, share information and get their news.
A Second Report and Order, First Order on Reconsideration, and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) that will help expand opportunities for Tribal entities to provide broadcast radio services to Native communities.

FCC's Genachowski Names Members to the FCC-Native Nations Broadband Task Force

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski named 30 members to serve on the new FCC-Native Nations Broadband Task Force.

The Task Force is comprised of elected and appointed leaders from across the Native Nations and senior staff and decision-makers from across the Commission. Chairman Genachowski also named Geoffrey Blackwell, Chief of the Commission's Office of Native Affairs and Policy, as co-chair. Another co-chair will be elected from among the Native Nation representatives on the Task Force by those representatives. The Task Force will assist the Commission in fulfilling its commitment to increase broadband deployment and adoption on Tribal lands.

Chairman Genachowski named the following members to the Task Force representing Native Nations and communities:

Honorable Susie Allen: Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
Honorable Marlin Fryberg: Tulalip Tribes
Honorable Joe Garcia: Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo
Honorable Jeffrey Harjo: Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
Honorable Bradley John: Seneca Nation of Indians
Honorable Bill Kekahbah: Kaw Nation
Honorable Joseph Manuel: Gila River Indian Community
Honorable Jim Shakespeare: Northern Arapaho Tribe
Mark Bilton-Smith: Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians
Lewis Christman: Tule River Indian Tribe
Valerie Fast Horse: Coeur d'Alene Tribe
Debby Gallenberg: Sokaogon Chippewa Community
Pearl Mikulski: Kawerak
Carroll Onsae: Hopi Tribe
Matthew Rantanen: Pala Band of Mission Indians
Brian Tagaban: Navajo Nation
Michael White: Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma
James Williams: Tanana Chiefs Conference
Michelle York: Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

Chairman Genachowski named the following Task Force members from the Federal Communications Commission:

Geoffrey Blackwell: Office of Native Affairs and Policy
Irene Flannery: Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau
David Furth: Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau
Jane Jackson: Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
Elise Kohn: Wireline Competition Bureau
Mark Lloyd: Office of General Counsel
Kris Monteith: Media Bureau
Robert Nelson: International Bureau
Jamison Prime: Office of Engineering and Technology
Thomas Reed: Office of Communications Business Opportunities
Suzanne Tetreault: Enforcement Bureau

Task Force responsibilities include assisting in developing and executing a Commission consultation policy, eliciting input to ensure that Native concerns are considered in all Commission proceedings related to broadband, developing additional recommendations for promoting broadband deployment and adoption on Tribal lands, and coordinating with external entities, including other federal departments and agencies.

FCC Waives Sunshine Rules to Meet with Native Nations Leaders

By public notice released February 24, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would consider at the open FCC meeting on March 3, 2011 three items concerning the provision of communications services to Native Nations. These are: (1) Policies to Promote Rural Radio Service and to Streamline Allotment and Assignment Procedures, (2) Improving Communications Services for Native Nations by Promoting Greater Utilization of Spectrum Over Tribal Lands, and (3) Improving Communications Services for Native Nations. Ordinarily, the Sunshine period prohibition, contained in section 1.1203 of the FCC's rules, would, with certain exceptions not applicable here, prohibit all presentations to decision-makers regarding these three items until release of the text of decisions or orders relating to them or removal of these items from the agenda. The FCC finds, however, that it would serve the public interest to be able to meet with Native Nations leaders after the adoption of actions concerning these items before their release. Accordingly, pursuant to section 1.1200(a) of the Commission's rules, the FCC exercises its discretion to suspend the sunshine period to permit such meetings. The content of these meetings will be subject to public disclosure under the provisions of the rules governing permit-but disclose proceedings.

Benton

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