May 2011

The jobs impact of a telecommunications investment

AT&T and T-Mobile claim that AT&T's purchase will result in an $8 billion net increase in AT&T’s investment in its domestic wireless infrastructure over seven years. Given Economic Policy Institute's job impact analysis, a plausible range of impact would be between 55,000 and 96,000 job-years. To reiterate, the jobs estimate includes both direct jobs within the primary industries that meet the additional demand for goods and services and supplier jobs in the secondary industries that supply those primary industries with intermediate goods and services. The estimate also includes “induced jobs” created as incomes earned by newly hired workers are spent back into the economy. The figures are again listed as job-years, which refer to a job held for a single year.

FCC Asks AT&T for Pricing, Spectrum Data

Federal telecommunications regulators reviewing AT&T Inc.'s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA on May 27 delivered their first request for information on the deal, demanding detailed data on AT&T's pricing, spectrum holdings and any alternatives it considered to solve its capacity constraints.

The Federal Communications Commission's 78-page request asks AT&T 50 detailed questions about its spectrum holdings, its network and its contention that it needs T-Mobile's airwaves to provide nearly seamless mobile broadband service across the US. In the data request, the FCC asked for any "plans, analyses and reports" on the wireless giant's capacity constraints and any alternatives AT&T considered for solving its network capacity constraints other than buying T-Mobile. The agency also asked for pricing information about AT&T's services and "any competitor's pricing lists," including pricing policies, forecasts and tiered pricing models. The agency also asked for detailed information about AT&T's coverage areas, including areas where it "does not possess sufficient spectrum to deploy LTE," and its agreements with other carriers, including deals to offer roaming. The FCC's data requests are the clearest signals the agency will provide to the public about the issues it will examine during its review of the acquisition. FCC officials won't speak publicly about their deliberations until the agency votes on the matter. And the Justice Department's review of the deal is far more private and the antitrust officials don't release any information during a review.

Federal government loosens its grip on the BlackBerry

This is the federal government 2.0, where technology upgrades no longer come at a “Little House on the Prairie” pace. Even President Obama, a BlackBerry devotee, has upgraded. He now owns an iPad, and it has been seen on his desk and under his arm. The flashy consumer products that have been adopted in the corporate workforce — upending BlackBerrys for iPhones, Microsoft Outlook for Gmail, and lately laptops for iPads — are now invading the federal government. The State Department. The Army. The Department of Veterans Affairs. NASA. The General Services Administration is in the process of moving 17,000 employees onto Gmail. The stakes are huge. The change may damage companies long associated with Washington work culture, but officials say the shift will make workers more productive while slashing billions from the $80 billion spent annually on information technology. The government is trying to keep up with federal workers’ interest in the new gadgets.

Cellphones 'Possibly Carcinogenic,' WHO Panel Says

An international panel of experts says cellphones are possibly carcinogenic to humans after reviewing details from dozens of published studies.

The statement was issued in Lyon, France, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer after a weeklong meeting of experts. They reviewed possible links between cancer and the type of electromagnetic radiation found in cellphones, microwaves and radar. The agency is the cancer arm of the World Health Organization and the assessment now goes to WHO and national health agencies for possible guidance on cellphone use. The group classified cellphones in category 2B, meaning they are possibly carcinogenic to humans. Other substances in that category include the pesticide DDT and gasoline engine exhaust. Last year, results of a large study found no clear link between cellphones and cancer. But some advocacy groups contend the study raised serious concerns because it showed a hint of a possible connection between very heavy phone use and glioma, a rare but often deadly form of brain tumor. However, the numbers in that subgroup weren't sufficient to make the case. The study was controversial because it began with people who already had cancer and asked them to recall how often they used their cellphones more than a decade ago. In about 30 other studies done in Europe, New Zealand and the U.S., patients with brain tumors have not reported using their cellphones more often than unaffected people.

Can Twitter Survive the British Privacy Onslaught?

What is it that the British have against Twitter’s legal department? Not only did the company become embroiled in a legal controversy in Britain surrounding a court order gagging the press from naming soccer player Ryan Giggs as an alleged adulterer, but it went a step further by refusing to hand over the identity of the individuals who broke that restraint. Now it seems that British lawyers have been on the offensive again. Over the holiday weekend, it emerged that Twitter has handed over the private details of at least one U.K. user, a controversial individual known as Mr. Monkey.

10 Signs Web-Based Sharing Is Reaching a Tipping Point

[Commentary] While the concept of using the web to share “stuff” — from cars to apartments to tools — is still relatively new to many consumers, the business model is being adopted by a growing number of companies and I think has started to reach a tipping point and become more of a mainstream concept. So-called collaborative consumption has also started to make some companies a significant amount of money. Here are 10 signs I've seen that a web-based sharing economy is movin’ into the mainstream:

Airbnb $1 Billion Valuation
Zipcar's IPO
'New Innovative Startups Emerging
Neighbor-to-Neighbor Car Rental Competition
Attention Outside of Early Adopters
The weak economy has led consumers to look to cut out buying and owning expensive goods
Winning Web Reputation Tools
Pundits-n-Books
Ashton Kutcher
Car Sharing Is the Gateway

Why Internet Policy Matters

Ammori is a lawyer whose expertise is in Internet law, media law, freedom of speech, and cybersecurity law. He has acted as counsel on some of the most important cases involving the future of the Internet and the 21st Century First Amendment. He was lead lawyer before the FCC on the Free Press-Comcast case (also known as the Comcast-BitTorrent case), regarding network neutrality, which has been called a “model of the free-speech battles of the future.” He also authored a major report on the future of online television, which consumer groups filed with government authorities; the issue became central to the Comcast-NBC merger review and prompted merger conditions. He has litigated media ownership and children’s digital TV rules. He has argued cases before the D.C. Circuit (including the Comcast case) and the 7th Circuit, has filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court, has testified before government bodies in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, has advised government officials on four continents, and has delivered addresses at conferences in East Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.

The NewMe Accelerator: Helping Minority Startups Get the Right Start

Taking an idea from a dream state to the marketplace just got easier for a few entrepreneurs who will participate this summer in New Media Entrepreneurship, the first technology accelerator for minority-led startups. The NewMe Accelerator will bring in entrepreneurs from around the country to join other startup leaders in California’s Silicon Valley, where together they will participate in nine weeks of intense business development. “We have speaker dinners with people from Twitter, Foursquare, and other major companies,” said Angela Benton, CEO of Black Web Media and one of the founders of NewMe. “We have mentors from top VCs, angel investors, Facebook, and others, and we’ll have a demo day also at the end of the program.”

Samsung demands to see Apple's next-gen iPhone, iPad

In the latest round of an ongoing patent and trademark battle, Samsung asked a federal judge to make Apple provide the Korean electronics giant with samples of its next-generation iPhone and iPad.

Samsung asked U.S. District Court Judge Koh to force Apple to give it "a sample of the final, commercial version of the next generation iPhone that Apple will release, whether that product will be known as the 'iPhone 4S,' 'iPhone 5,' or some other name," according to a motion filed in a California federal court. Samsung's move followed Apple's motion earlier this month demanding that its rival show it several of its newest smartphones and tablets as part of the discovery phase of a lawsuit Apple filed against Samsung. Judge Koh granted Apple's motion. Assuming Judge Koh agrees with Samsung, Apple would have until June 17 to hand over the iPhone and iPad samples.

HHS announces proposed changes to HIPAA Privacy Rule

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning the accounting of disclosures requirement under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) Act Privacy Rule, is available for public comment.

The proposed rule would give people the right to get a report on who has electronically accessed their protected health information. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is proposing changes to Privacy Rule, pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. HITECH is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. People would obtain this information by requesting an access report, which would document the particular persons who electronically accessed and viewed their protected health information. Although covered entities are currently required by the HIPAA Security Rule to track access to electronic protected health information, they are not required to share this information with people. The proposed rule requires an accounting of more detailed information for certain disclosures that are most likely to affect a person’s rights or interests. The proposed changes to the accounting requirements provide information of value to individuals while placing a reasonable burden on covered entities and business associates.

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