May 2012

Martin Cooper, Father of the Cellphone, on Spectrum Sharing

A Q&A with Martin Cooper, the former vice president of Motorola who helped create the first working cellphone. He has been saying for some time that technology is the solution to dealing with the ever-rising demand for wireless data capacity. Now a presidential advisory committee agrees with him, urging President Obama to adopt technologies that would use radio spectrum more efficiently. Wireless carriers argue that they need more spectrum, not just better-managed spectrum.

Higher Education's Online Revolution

[Commentary] At the recent news conference announcing edX, a $60 million Harvard-MIT partnership in online education, university leaders spoke of reaching millions of new students in India, China and around the globe. They talked of the "revolutionary" potential of online learning, hailing it as the "single biggest change in education since the printing press." Heady talk indeed, but they are right.

The nation, and the world, are in the early stages of a historic transformation in how students learn, teachers teach, and schools and school systems are organized. For now, policy makers, educators and entrepreneurs alike need to recognize that this is a revolution, but also a complicated process that must unfold over time before its benefits are realized. The MITs and Harvards still don't really know what they are doing, but that is normal at this early stage of massive change. Early stumbles and missteps (which edX may or may not be) will show the way toward what works, and what is the right balance between online and traditional learning. But like countless industries before it, higher education will be transformed by technology -- and for the better. Elite players and upstarts, not-for-profits and for-profits, will compete for students, government funds and investment in pursuit of the future blend of service that works for their respective institutions and for the students each aims to serve.

[Chubb is interim CEO of Education Sector, an independent think tank, and a distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Moe is professor of political science at Stanford and a senior fellow at Hoover.]

In an Age of Digital Identity, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz Calls for Privacy by Design

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz is no newcomer to Washington. He has been at the FTC since 2004, dealing with antitrust issues at a national level. But his job looks much different today than it did eight years ago.

Facebook and Google have grown into juggernauts of the Internet -- Facebook holds your years of status updates, location data and photos; Google has your trove of Google account data, including years of search queries. They’re two of a few Silicon Valley giants who have singularly formed the concept of identity in the digital age. And it’s Leibowitz’s job to make sure these big boys are playing by the rules. Leibowitz discussed a few of his organization’s stances on privacy, market competition and other topics in conversation with Walt Mossberg. There’s the good news: Leibowitz says that inside the Beltway, issues surrounding privacy aren’t divided between the red and the blue. “The FTC is about as bipartisan as you can get,” he said. “It happens to be a small oasis of bipartisanship in Washington.”

Tech executives expect growth to begin slowing in 2012

Growth in the technology sector will begin slowing in 2012, according to industry executives who answered an annual survey. Though the sector is expected to continue expanding, 42% of executives said they expected only moderate growth of 1% to 6% in 2012, while in 2011 that figure was just 14%. At the same time, only 15% of those surveyed said they expect growth higher than 7% this year, quite a bit less than the 36% who answered the same in 2011. The annual Technology Industry Business Outlook survey was conducted by the KPMG consulting firm during April. It involved 122 mostly senior executives, most of whom work at companies with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion.

Lawmakers consider extension of overseas surveillance powers

A House panel is considering renewing a law that gives officials broad leeway to conduct surveillance overseas when the target isn’t a US citizen.

The provision under Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has garnered concern from some Democrats, who worry the powers might be used to target American citizens and legal residents in the United States. The FISA measure, which expires at the end of the year, grants U.S. intelligence officials the power to monitor phone calls, emails and other communications of suspected terrorists abroad once they obtain a court order. The provision allows U.S. officials to get a blanket approval from the FISA court for surveillance outside of the United States without having to file individual applications for each person being monitored. Intelligence officials would still have to get specific permission to monitor the communications of U.S. citizens.

Public Knowledge Launches Pro-Hopper Campaign

Public Knowledge has launched a letter-writing campaign to CBS, Fox and NBC opposing their suit against Dish's Hopper commercial-skipping technology. The group sent out an e-mail with a link to an online letter to make it easy for its members and others to weigh in on Dish's side. Public Knowledge was an early critic of the lawsuits and also backs Aereo, the Barry Diller-backed service that broadcasters see as a threat to their business model.

Apple-Samsung Copy Case Hinges On Cheech, Chong Test

Apple’s claim that Samsung copied the design of the iPhone may hinge on what a U.S. trade judge described as the “Cheech and Chong test.” “Does it look like it, feel like it, smell like it?”

U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Thomas Pender said at the beginning of Apple’s patent-infringement trial against Samsung, referring to a routine in which the comedy duo identified dog feces. Apple contends Samsung’s phones and Galaxy Tab tablet computer copy designs on the look and front face of the iPhone, and they also infringe patents related to the user interface and headset plugs. Apple is asking the ITC to block imports of Samsung products that violate Apple’s patent rights.

Connect2Compete Adoption Pilot Program

Federal Communications Commission Julius Genachowski was joined by Connect2Compete (C2C) members, including Cox Communications, Redemtech-GoodPC, The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and Carlos Slim at Horace Mann Middle School in San Diego (CA) to announce progress on a national effort to close the broadband adoption gap. C2C is piloting their program with 39,000 eligible students in San Diego, and includes $9.95 monthly broadband service and discounted computer offerings for eligible school lunch children and their families.

Carlos Slim Donates $3 Million to Connect2Compete

Carlos Slim Foundation has donated $3 million to the government-industry Connect2Compete broadband adoption effort. Slim, who topped the most recent Forbes 400 list as the world's richest man ($69 billion), will also be part of the Connect2Compete governing board.

Reeling ACTA treaty rejected by three European Parliament committees

Momentum against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement continued to build on as three different committees of the European Parliament voted not to recommend adoption of the treaty.

A final vote by the full European Parliament is scheduled for July. The EU-wide votes followed on the heels of a vote in the Dutch parliament. The Dutch government had placed the controversial copyright treaty on the back burner while it waited for the results of Europe-wide debate over the treaty. But the vote in the Dutch parliament will place pressure on the government to actively oppose the treaty. The ACTA treaty is nominally an anti-counterfeiting treaty, but its provisions would have broader implications for copyright policy. While the treaty is not as bad as its strongest critics claim, it would be a vehicle for ratcheting up already excessive copyright protections by one more notch.

Benton

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