June 2012

Presentations, No Votes, on FCC’s July Meeting Agenda

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the following items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 19, 2012:

FCC Next-Generation Mapping Presentation: FCC mapping efforts are among the best in government. The Commission will hear a presentation on the latest advancements in mapping at the Commission, including the launch of fcc.gov/maps, and novel use of maps and the latest open source mapping technology to increase transparency across the agency and promote data-driven decision-making to benefit consumers, industry, and developers.
White Spaces for Wireless Broadband Presentation: The Commission will hear a progress report by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Office of Engineering & Technology on the development and use of white space technology to unleash more spectrum for wireless broadband.
Measuring Broadband America Report 2012 Presentation: The Commission will hear a presentation on the Measuring Broadband America July 2012 Report, which extends the study into more regions and publishes more kinds of data. This latest study of broadband performance in the U.S. follows the Commission’s first-of-its-kind report last year to test and report transparent broadband speed and performance data in collaboration with Internet Service Providers.

Energy Department Develops Tool with Industry to Help Utilities Strengthen Their Cybersecurity Capabilities

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the release of a new Cybersecurity Self-Evaluation Survey Tool for utilities that will strengthen protection of the nation’s electric grid from cybersecurity threats.

The Cybersecurity Self-Evaluation Tool utilizes best practices that were developed for the Electricity Subsector Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model Initiative, which involved a series of workshops with the private sector to draft a maturity model that can be used throughout the electric sector to better protect the grid. Maturity models, which rely on best practices to identify an organization’s strengths and weaknesses, are widely used by other sectors to improve performance, efficiency and quality. The development of the Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model was led by the Energy Department in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and in close collaboration with industry, other Federal agencies, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and other stakeholders. More than a dozen utilities nationwide participated in pilot evaluations to help refine the model.

Abundanomics: The politics of plentitude

[Commentary] As the luckiest chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in history, who came into office in the salad days of the Internet and wireless, I faced policy choices that fell along the line of good, better and best. The goal in every area of information, communications and technology was simple: How to get everything to be faster, better, cheaper.

When abundance is the goal, mistakes can be more easily forgiven or at least forgotten (I bungled one auction), and successes can exceed dreams (our sector did more than any other to create the federal budget surplus, increases for every quintile on the income ladder, and added more than 2 million net new jobs). Technology, finance and global networks enable us to re-create the politics of abundance with bigger scale and scope than was possible in the '90s. It is technically and economically feasible, for example, to distribute robust public goods to everyone on the Internet — about 3 billion people and almost everyone in the United States — at a cost that approximates zero. The key now, as it was then, is twofold. First, assure low-cost access to key inputs that enable long-term investments in transformative infrastructure. Second, remove barriers to replacing old methods with the new. If that is done, the low marginal costs will combine with human creativity to produce the kind of abundance that replaces a short, cross country phone call priced at dollars with a video conference uniting persons on five continents, all for free.

Young People Using New Media for Participatory Politics

This research shows that contrary to the traditional notion of a technological digital divide, substantial numbers of young people across racial and ethnic groups are engaging in “participatory politics” — acts such as starting a political group online, circulating a blog about a political issue, or forwarding political videos to friends. Like traditional political acts, these acts address issues of public concern. The difference is that participatory acts are interactive, peer-based, and do not defer to elites or formal institutions. They are also tied to digital or new media platforms that facilitate and amplify young people’s actions.

Your FTC Privacy Watchdogs: Low-Tech, Defensive, Toothless

The Federal Trade Commission is the lead agency in the government’s effort to ensure that companies do not cross the still-hazy border between acceptable and unacceptable data collection. But the agency’s ambitions are clipped by a lack of both funding and legal authority, reflecting a broader uncertainty about the role government should play in what is arguably America’s most promising new industry.

Companies like Facebook and Google are global brands for which data mining is at the core of present and future profits. How far should they go? Current laws provide few limits, mainly banning data collection from children under 13 and prohibiting the sale of personal medical data. Beyond that, it’s a digital mosh pit, and it’s likely to remain that way because more regulation tends to be regarded by politicians in both parties as meaning fewer jobs.

Why Verizon's cross-marketing arrangements with the cable companies won't work

[Commentary] Various cable companies and Verizon Wireless have begun marketing some of each other's products in certain geographic markets. Antitrust authorities are still reviewing the cross-marketing arrangements, and only time will tell whether the deal passes government muster. Economic muster may be even harder for the cross-marketing arrangement to pass. Consider that few national firms consistently engage in cross-marketing. Toyota does not market Bridgestone tires or vice versa. Safeway does not direct customers to buy just Pepsi products, and Pepsi trucks do not steer people to Safeway stores. Perhaps these and just about every other major company are missing out on an opportunity to make money. Or perhaps these companies are concerned about antitrust review. Or, more likely, these companies have concluded that cross-marketing is difficult to conduct effectively.

French company Vivendi's chief executive steps down

Jean-Bernard Lévy, the chairman and chief executive of the French telecommunications company Vivendi, stepped down following a disagreement with the company's board.

The company, in a statement, described the tension as "a divergence of views on the strategic development of the group." News reports and financial analysts suggest that the board has been embroiled in a debate about whether to carve off assets or break up the company, which consists of European pay-television operations, including France's popular Canal+, Activision Blizzard video game company, Universal Music Group, and phone and Internet services. The development suggests that the board might pursue its plan to break apart its television, video game and music and phone and Internet services.

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch details plans to split company

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch outlined plans to split the media conglomerate's publishing and entertainment operations into two publicly traded companies.

Under the plan, the media and entertainment company would comprise 20th Century Fox film studio, the Fox broadcast network, and the company's cable TV group, which includes Fox News and FX. The online television service Hulu -- partly owned by News Corp. -- would also be included, as would the company's home satellite operations. The global publishing company would consist of News Corp.'s newspaper holdings, among them the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, the Sun in Britain, as well as its HarperCollins book publishing group. Murdoch would serve as chairman and chief executive of the media and entertainment company, and as chairman of the new publishing entity. News Corp. chief operating officer Chase Carey would continue in that capacity for the entertainment business.

House Judiciary Approves Digital Fairness Tax Bill

The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would eliminate multiple and/or discriminatory taxes on digital goods and services.

The bill, the Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act of 2011, would limit taxes on digital goods -- music, movies and e-books among them -- to either the buyer or seller, and only in the state or jurisdiction of either's tax address.

Virginia Senate Candidates Split on Internet Sales Tax

Democratic senatorial candidate and former Virginia governor Tim Kaine, speaking at a Northern Virginia Technology Council forum, supported an effort to extend the collection of state sales taxes on Internet sales, even to companies that don't maintain a physical presence in the state.

Current law requires online merchants to collect and remit sales taxes to state governments only when they have physical operations in that state. Online retailers and catalog merchants are not required to collect sales taxes on transactions involving out-of-state customers. Kaine is looking to equalize the burdens of online and offline merchants. He pitched it as a "fundamental fairness issue," saying that bricks-and-mortar stores are being hampered in their efforts to compete with online retailers. He held out the possibility of exemptions for small sellers, to spare them the burden of complying with the dizzying array of state and local tax codes.

Republican former Governor George Allen, who is looking to reclaim his old Senate seat, disagreed. Speaking at the same event, Allen made the case that businesses that don't derive benefits from operating within a state should not be compelled to pay sales taxes to that state. "It would be very burdensome, particularly for small businesses, to comply," Allen said. He raised the specter of "Maryland auditors coming in" to examine the sales records of Virginia businesses.
There was daylight between the two on some other issues that are important to companies in Northern Virginia's thriving technology corridor.

Benton

Search