April 2011

Senators say digital privacy law covers smartphones

The law that protects private computers from unauthorized access also applies to smartphones and other electronic devices, according to Sens Al Franken (D-MN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). They sent a letter to the Department of Justice's Crime Division asking the agency to clarify its interpretation of an existing digital privacy law in light of the recent Epsilon hacker attack and reports that smartphone app-makers are sharing customer data with third parties without notifying customers. "These allegations raise broad questions about the need to better protect Americans' digital information and give them greater awareness and control over that information," the senators wrote. "They also highlight potential ambiguities and limitations of the [Computer Fraud and Abuse Act] which create uncertainties for industry and limit safeguards for consumers."

Walden: Congress Won't Be Rushed Into Spectrum Decision

"There are a lot of wolves at the door when it comes to spectrum," House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) said, but he conceded there was a huge demand behind all that huffing and puffing.

He told an American Cable Association summit audience that spectrum was an important and valuable commodity held by the public -- he is a former broadcaster -- and that country needed to get the spectrum issue right. Chairman Walden said that he did not know whether an incentive auction bill paying broadcasters for giving up spectrum would be passed this year. The FCC has been pushing Congress to pass a bill ASAP so it can reclaim spectrum for wireless broadband before a looming spectrum crunch gets any worse. But Chairman Walden was suggesting a more tortoise than hare approach. He said he would not be "rushed by arbitrary or historical timelines or deadlines," adding: "I want to make sure the subcommittee and the full committee have as solid an understanding of spectrum needs and demands and issues involved as possible before we legislate." He said he does plan to legislate, but that he "wants to get it right" the first time.

Chairman Walden Plans Hearing, Legislation On Reforming FCC

Speaking at the American Cable Association annual summit, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) said to look for a hearing and legislation on Federal Communications Commission reform, but he did not talk about specific reforms.

Chairman Walden said the FCC is a "creature of Congress," and suggested it was Congress' duty to keep that creature in check if it starts to run loose. "Failure to do that only gives them license to do other things they don't have the authority to do," he said. He said FCC reform will be a "serious topic" the subcommittee will be working on "diligently in the weeks ahead." He said discussions have already begun on the effort and the subcommittee is seeking input from "those who have an interest in FCC process. He said he thinks that FCC commissioners from both parties agree that the process can be improved. Chairman Walden thinks that reform can be achieved in a "positive and constructive way," likening it to Republican's rewriting of the House rules.

Chairman Walden Warning: Content-Controlling Viewers Should 'Scare Heck' Out Of Cable

Speaking at the American Cable Association annual summit, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) said that consumers would ultimately settle the debate over the rights to move TV programming to smaller screens, and he thinks it will be by becoming their own programmers. He said he thinks the people now creating their own audio playlists will start doing that for video as well. "Eventually [consumers] will create their own lineup of shows the way they want them. That ought to scare the heck out of you," he told his American Cable Association audience. He said that ultimately the delivery platforms for programming will change so that it will be available on iPads and other tablets" because consumers and market forces will dictate it.

NAB Chief Links AT&T-T-Mobile Deal With Incentive Auctions

National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith stepped back into his previous life as a U.S. senator at the NAB meeting, saying AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile may force lawmakers to question the efficacy of a proposal to persuade broadcasters to give up some of their spectrum to meet the mobile broadband boom.

If he were still a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, he said, he would question whether the FCC's proposal for incentive auctions will bring in the predicted proceeds. The FCC proposal, which must be approved by Congress, aims to entice broadcasters to give up their spectrum in exchange for a share of the proceeds from the auction of that spectrum.

"Were I still a member of the Commerce Committee and looking at budgetary numbers of $30 billion that [incentive auctions are] supposed to provide, and the biggest bidder just walked out, two of them, I would wonder what the options are," Smith said. "So as you begin to start to say, ok, we can compensate broadcasters, we can build out a public safety network we can add to the Treasury, I'm telling you can't do all those things."

Budget Deal Eliminates Enhancing Education Through Technology Program

The budget deal reached earlier this month would eliminate the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program.

President Obama originally wanted to eliminate EETT in his 2011 budget, but he also proposed a new initiative that would focus on improving teaching and learning within three areas: literacy, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and well-rounded education (arts, foreign languages, civics and government, history, geography, economics, financial literacy, and other subjects). According to education officials, the new initiative was supposed to “include a focus on integrating technology into instruction and using technology to drive improvements in teaching and learning” throughout all three curricular areas. This new initiative didn't make it into the final budget deal for the remainder of FY11, however. Last month, educational technology advocates, including the International Society for Technology in Education, the Consortium for School Networking, the Software and Information Industry Association, and the State Educational Technology Directors Association, urged Congress to continue to fund EETT.

How Mobile TV Could Finally Find an Audience

If you experience Déjà vu when reading headlines like “Mobile TV ready for prime time” and “Mobile TV gains steam in the U.S.,” you've probably followed the industry for a while. We were up to our ears in claims like these a few years ago, when players rushed to build out nationwide networks dedicated to bringing video to mobile phones. Thanks to a lack of demand, only Qualcomm’s FLO network saw the light of day, and even that service has gone dark. And while analysts generally agree the market will grow in the coming years, eMarketer predicts only 17.6 percent of the U.S. population will be watching mobile video in 2014. Those trying to monetize mobile video need to address some key challenges: 1) Mobile-optimized content and service, 2) Bigger and better devices, 3) Improved connectivity, and 4) Support from advertisers.

Public Libraries Developing Technology Benchmarking

The Urban Libraries Council is leading a nationwide coalition to develop benchmarks for access to technology in public libraries.

The council joined forces with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and more than 10 other organizations earlier this year to begin the first phase of the benchmark development initiative. Through a $2.8 million grant funded through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the ICMA will support the benchmark design and lead the pilot in local communities. Although the benchmarks are still being defined, the groups anticipate the standards will cover wait times for public computers, broadband access speeds and other related issues. The benchmarks will help public libraries develop technology policies, as well as plan and budget for the technology they need to maintain high-quality services, said Sheila Murphy, senior program manager of the Urban Libraries Council.

How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web

Want to know how Google is about to change your life? Stop by the Ouagadougou conference room on a Thursday morning. It is here, at the Mountain View, California, headquarters of the world’s most powerful Internet company, that a room filled with three dozen engineers, product managers, and executives figure out how to make their search engine even smarter. This year, Google will introduce 550 or so improvements to its fabled algorithm, and each will be determined at a gathering just like this one. The decisions made at the weekly Search Quality Launch Meeting will wind up affecting the results you get when you use Google’s search engine to look for anything.

New ONC head Mostashari outlines his priorities

The new head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology pledged to continue to run an open and transparent office, but Dr. Farzad Mostashari said he would "double down" on efforts to improve communications, be more consumer-centric and to tailor the office's efforts to improve care coordination to align with objectives in the National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Healthcare and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Mostashari said policies of openness and transparency have been vital in advancing the country's health IT objectives. A willingness to listen to assorted health IT stakeholders, too, has played a key role, he said. The ONC also will continue "to work with the market and tap into the energy of the private sector while we continue to make a more perfect market," Mostashari said. "And while we do that we have to continue to look out for the little guy." There are three other areas that will require increased focus, Mostashari said. The first, he said, involves "boots on the ground." "We're moving into an intense implementation and execution phase," Mostashari said, adding that he knows how difficult the work is from personal experience implementing electronic health-record systems in New York, where he served as a public health official. "The second area of emphasis and redoubling, and we see this in the strategic plan, (is) the concept of putting the patient at the center of everything we do,” he said. Those efforts will be manifested in attention to privacy and security, according to Mostashari. "I think we owe that to the American people and also in terms of making progress on ways we can technologically have opportunities for greater patient protection." That could include, he said, "more granular protection through metadata" as outlined in a December report from the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Finally, there will be an increased focus on outcomes, Mostashari said. "Everything we've done in meaningful use has not been about the technology" but about improving quality of care, he said. "Quite consciously, we need to be aligning and coordinating our work in the service of the broader national health goals."

Benton

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