May 2011

Chairmen Upton, Walden Urge FCC to Finally Remove “Fairness Doctrine” from Rulebooks

House Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) sent a letter urging the Federal Communications Commission to remove the Fairness Doctrine rules from the Code of Federal Regulations. The Fairness Doctrine has been deemed unconstitutional by the FCC itself, and has long been viewed as a threat to free speech.

"Despite the FCC’s determination not to enforce the Fairness Doctrine, Commissioner McDowell recently discovered that it still remains in the Code of Federal Regulations,” wrote Upton and Walden. “Further research has revealed that the political-editorial and personal-attack rules also remain intact despite the FCC’s decision to repeal them. The media marketplace is more diverse and competitive today than it was ten years ago when the D.C. Circuit struck down the Commission’s political-editorial and personal-attack rules. The difference is even more stark when compared to the market twenty years ago when the Commission concluded that the Fairness Doctrine was unconstitutional."

Earlier this year, President Obama called on federal agencies to review existing regulations, paying particular attention to outdated regulations that remain on the books. Although independent agencies like the FCC are not technically required to comply with the administration's Executive Order on regulatory relief, FCC Chairman Genachowski has indicated that he intends to abide by the spirit of the administration's policy. Upton and Walden concluded their letter by calling on Chairman Genachowski to remove the Fairness Doctrine and related political-editorial and personal-attack rules from the Code of Federal Regulations.
The committee leaders requested a written confirmation by June 3 that the FCC will finally wipe these outdated rules from the books as soon as possible.

Comcast's "Internet Essentials" offers Low-Cost High-Speed Broadband, Subsidized Computers

Comcast's David Cohen and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited a city library as part of the ceremonial kick-off of the Internet Essentials program, part of Comcast's pledge to the Federal Communications Commission in order to secure its joint venture with NBCU.

The nation's largest cable operators promised to provide low-cost Internet access and subsidized computer equipment to homes with children who qualified for the National School Lunch Program. Eligible households can start signing up this summer for the program, which launches with the 2011-2012 school year at the end of August or beginning of September, depending on the school district. The program provides XFINITY economy service for $9.95 per month with no activation or rental charges, a computer for $149.99 plus taxes if applicable, and digital literacy training.

Android Smartphones Consume More Data. Here’s Why.

Nielsen said Android users consume an average of 582 megabytes per month over cellular connections. IPhone users were second with 492 megabytes per month followed by WebOS phones (448 MB), Windows Phone 7 (317 MB), and BlackBerry (127 MB) handsets.

Apple requires apps that are bigger than 20 MB to be downloaded over Wi-Fi rather than on a 3G connection. It also does its software updates over a wired connection via iTunes, while Android users get their updates wirelessly. Those updates are more limited in their impact since they’re not frequent, but it does show that Android can natively route more traffic via cellular networks than iOS. Android also has a higher percentage of free apps compared to iOS, and it’s likely the free apps monetize more through ads, which have to communicate frequently with ad servers.

The whole frenzy over location databases kept by Google and Apple may also be part of the issue. As you may recall, Apple was in the spotlight for the way its iPhones gathered location information in a local database file. Apple said that the database is backed up by Apple when a user connects through iTunes. But Google, however, said that when an Android user opts in for location services, anonymized location information is sent directly to Google’s servers. That means Google is potentially sending a steady stream of information from its phones back to its data centers to improve its location database, something it has to do because it stopped using its Google Street View cars to gather Wi-Fi database information. This could also help explain why Android users appear to be using more data.

Why Chattanooga Represents Broadband’s Future

[Commentary] Last September, Chattanooga’s (TN) public utility (EPB) announced the first gigabit broadband service in the U.S. To fully grasp the economic power of true broadband, community leaders and broadband champions need look under the hood to get the inside scoop. Luckily, over 130 community-owned fiber networks besides EPB’s are pumping out great service, including Pulaski (TN), Powell (WY), and Santa Monica (CA). This month, I did a broadband site visit to Chattanooga to see the future unfolding there firsthand.

Why Obama Nominated NRDC Cofounder John Bryson As Commerce Secretary

[Commentary] President Obama's nomination of businessman and Natural Resources Defense Council cofounder John Bryson as Commerce Secretary is a refreshing sign for those who want economic growth and environmental protection to go hand in hand.

In addition to his role at the NRDC, Bryson has a laundry list of impressive accomplishments--he is the former CEO of Edison International (the parent company of Southern California Edison, which is the largest utility in California), as well as a director of corporations including Boeing, Walt Disney, and electric vehicle startup Coda Automotive. Perhaps most interestingly, Bryson is also the chairman of the board of BrightSource Energy, which you may remember as the company building giant Google-funded solar farms in the desert. He knows the financial potential of clean-tech innovation. By nominating Bryson, President Obama is ensuring that the government's business dealings at least take the environment into consideration (both the NRDC and the Chamber of Commerce have offered statements of support). Perhaps President Obama realizes that our economic success as a country--and planet--depends on the wise use of our natural resources.

Professor Jonathan Zittrain will be FCC Distinguished Scholar

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski appointed Professor Jonathan Zittrain the be the agency’s Distinguished Scholar. He will be based in the Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis and will work on a range of issues related to 21st century communications networks. He succeeds Professor Stuart Benjamin from Duke University School of Law as the Commission’s first Distinguished Scholar.

Zittrain is a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government, co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society and is on the board of advisors for Scientific American. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum, which has named him a Young Global Leader. Previously, he was Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University.

His research interests include issues related to digital property and content, cryptography, electronic privacy, and the roles of intermediaries within Internet architecture. His 2008 book The Future of the Internet -- And How to Stop It focuses on the future of the now-intertwined Internet and PC. Professor Zittrain will serve as the FCC's Distinguished Scholar while continuing his teaching and scholarship at Harvard.

White House adviser on technology and innovation Phil Weiser named CU law dean

The University of Colorado Boulder announced the appointment of Philip J. Weiser, senior adviser for technology and innovation to the National Economic Council at the White House, as dean of the University of Colorado Law School.

CU-Boulder Provost Russell L. Moore said Weiser will begin his duties as dean on July 1, 2011.

Weiser joined the CU-Boulder faculty as a professor of law and telecommunications in 1999. Prior to joining the White House, Weiser served as the deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department's Antitrust Division. Weiser took that post in July 2009, taking a leave of absence from the University of Colorado Law School where he served as a professor of law, associate dean for research, and the executive director and founder of the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship.

FTC Targets Cash Flow Infomercial

The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit in a Colorado U.S. District Court to block broadcast and cable TV infomercials for ‘Winning in the Cash Flow Business' and try to recoup the money paid by consumers the FTC says was deceived by the ads into thinking they could make a killing trading in seller-financed promissory notes.

The ads, featuring actor Gary Collins, have aired "tens of thousands of times on broadcast and cable television," said the FTC, and is one of the top 100 most distributed TV infomercials. The FTC says that Dalbey Education Institute CEO Russell Dalbey defrauded customers with deceptive claims that they could make big bucks quickly and with little work and misled them about how much they could actually make and how long it would take.

"'Winning in the Cash Flow Business' was a real loser for hundreds of thousands of consumers nationwide," said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in announcing the complaint. "When someone is selling a program designed to help people make money, they have to accurately describe how much consumers can expect to make and be truthful about how quickly they will be able to do so. None of that happened in this case, and people who bought the program paid the price."

President Obama Announces Intent to Nominate John Bryson as Department of Commerce Secretary

President Obama will nominate John Bryson as the Secretary of Department of Commerce. Bryson will play a key role as a member of the President’s economic team, bringing decades of knowledge and experience in the public and private sectors, and will provide valuable ideas and initiatives to strengthen America’s competiveness around the world. John Bryson was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison and Edison Mission Group, from 1990 to 2008.

He is a director of The Boeing Company, The Walt Disney Company and Coda Automotive, Inc., and is a senior advisor to KKR. He is chairman of the board of BrightSource Energy, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) Board of Overseers. He also serves as co-chairman of the Pacific Council on International Policy (PCIP).

Bryson is a trustee of the California Institute of Technology and a director of The California Endowment and the W. M. Keck Foundation. He serves on the Advisory Board of Deutsche Bank Americas. He also previously served on a number of educational and environmental boards, including as chairman of the California Business Roundtable, co-chairman of the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), trustee of Stanford University, and as a member of the U.N. Secretary-General’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC).

Bryson also served as president of the California Public Utilities Commission, chairman of the California State Water Resources Control Board, and on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations. At the start of his career, he was a co-founder and attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a national and international environmental group. He is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School.

MMTC Endorses AT&T/T-Mobile Merger

The Minority Media & Telecommunications Council (MMTC) has endorsed the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, the first time in its quarter-century history it has endorsed any merger, saying it does so through the "prism" of securing equal opportunities for minorities in the media.

MMTC says it has done its due diligence on the deal, will monitor evidence and reserves the right to "modify" its position if it is wrong, but that given the public interest benefits it has identified, the merger is needed to ease capacity constraints that could drive up prices and hurt adoption, particularly for minority consumers. It also pointed out that the NAACP also supports the deal. MMTC says the deal would be a short-term solution that "would buy the nation the time it needs to implement a long-term cure for the spectrum crunch through such mechanisms as spectrum incentive auctions and repurposing of some government spectrum." MMTC also argues that the deal will extend AT&T's diversity hiring practices and "neutrality toward unionization." AT&T has made the point to legislators that it is the only unionized work force among the major carriers. In a conference call with reporters, MMTC President David Honig said that while AT&T supported MMTC's latest conference with a $100,000 sponsorship, the company did not provide any funds in connection with its support of the deal and added that MMTC would have rejected such funds if it had.

Benton

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