You don’t have to pay for e-books on your mobile device or your Mac: your local library will lend you e-books, digital magazine and audiobooks. Here’s a quick guide to getting set up.
Google's Transparency Reports, released every six months, are interesting not just for what they reveal about government requests for Internet user data, but also for what they do not reveal.
Google's transparency reports do not include requests for user data made by the government under the U.S. Patriot Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendment Act or through the use of National Security Letters (NSLs). Most of the requests made via these statutes are tied to national security issues and often compel providers to disclose far more data than Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) subpoenas and court orders permit. Google has said that it will try to release more information about such requests in the future. But how it will do so remains to be seen, because companies that receive NSLs and requests under the Patriot Act and FISA are not allowed to publicly disclose the requests. As a result, it's unclear how many more requests Google might have received from the government, how intrusive those requests were or how many people might have been impacted by the requests, said Trevor Timm, an activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Through this report, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) presents the results of its initial study on the potential use of up to 195 megahertz of spectrum in the 5 gigahertz (GHz) band by Unlicensed-National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices. Pursuant to Section 6406(b)(1) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Tax Relief Act), NTIA, in consultation with the Department of Defense and other impacted agencies, assessed known and proposed spectrum-sharing technologies. This study also evaluated the risk to federal users if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allows U-NII devices to operate in the 5350-5470 MHz and 5850-5925 MHz bands.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration adopted regulations governing the Technical Panel and dispute resolution process established by Congress to facilitate the relocation of, and spectrum sharing with, U.S. Government stations in spectrum bands reallocated from Federal use to non-Federal use or to shared use.
This action is necessary to ensure the timely relocation of Federal entities' spectrum-related operations and, where applicable, the timely implementation of arrangements for the sharing of radio frequencies. Specifically, this action implements certain additions and modifications to the NTIA Organization Act as amended by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (the Tax Relief Act). As required by the Tax Relief Act, this rule has been reviewed and approved by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
In an amicus (friend of the court) brief, the Consumer Electronics Association, Computer and Communications Industry Association and Internet Association took Dish's side in the lawsuit filed by broadcasters against the ad-skipping DVR.
The groups said that the Hopper was protected under the Supreme Court's Betamax decision. "[R]ecording for personal, private viewing does not infringe; nor does declining to watch commercials... There is simply no precedent for finding consumer copyright liability where, as here, recordings stay in the home, are made portable, or otherwise remain under the control of the consumer who made them," they argue.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) is assuming control of the Senate subcommittee in charge of the budgets of the financial agencies. The new post will give Lautenberg power over what is spent by the Treasury department, Securities & Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Trade Commission, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and a host of other agencies.
“This chairmanship provides an important opportunity to strengthen consumer protections and make sure our nation's financial institutions serve the interests of all Americans. In addition, the FCC has a tremendous impact on our daily lives, from cellphones to the Internet to what we see on our television screens, and I will work to promote fairness, localism and diversity in the telecommunications industry,” he said.
The European Commission unveiled a deal with Hewlett-Packard, Telefonica and eight other telecoms and technology firms aimed at filling up to 700,000 high tech job vacancies.
Calling it a grand coalition, European Union Telecoms Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the companies pledged to offer training, free online university courses or provide start-up funding. The European Commission is seeking to spur economic growth, boost competitiveness and tackle a record jobless total of 26.1 million in the 27-country European Union, or 10.7 percent of the working population. High tech vacancies have proven hard to fill because job seekers either do not have the right qualifications, have qualifications not recognized throughout the European Union or do not speak English.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced new actions as part of the Broadband Acceleration Initiative, a comprehensive effort to remove barriers to broadband build-out, including streamlining the deployment of mobile broadband infrastructure, such as towers, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells.
The FCC defined and clarified a technical provision in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 regarding local review of requests to modify an existing wireless tower or base station. This provision will accelerate deployment and delivery of high-speed mobile broadband to communities across the nation. This action will create greater certainty and predictability for providers that today invest more than $25 billion per year in mobile infrastructure, one of the largest U.S. sectors for private investment.
The FCC also launched a proceeding to expedite placement of temporary cell towers – cells on wheels (COWs) and cells on light trucks (COLTs) – that are used to expand capacity during special events, such as the Inauguration or the Super Bowl. Chairman Genachowski also announced actions in the coming months to further streamline DAS and small cell deployment; examine whether current application of the tower siting shot clock offers sufficient clarity to industry and municipalities; and begin developing model facility siting rules for localities. Each of these actions would contribute to faster, more efficient deployment of wireless infrastructure.
An edict from the Library of Congress is about to make phone unlocking illegal for the first time in 6 years. The decision, issued in October, is part of a triennial process whereby the Librarian of Congress hands out exemptions from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The new ruling comes with a grandfather clause. It will continue to be legal to unlock phones purchased before Saturday, January 26. But if you unlock a phone purchased after that date you could be liable under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits the "circumvention" of copy protection schemes.
[Commentary] Rarely do you see companies double-dare the Federal Communications Commission to back up their brave talk about promoting competition. That is, however, what AT&T has just decided to do – with a little help from Verizon.
After gobbling a ton of spectrum last year in a series of small transactions, AT&T announced earlier this week it would buy up ATNI, which holds the last shreds of the old Alltel Spectrum. To top this off, Verizon just announced it has selected the purchaser for the 700 MHz spectrum it promised to sell off to get permission to buy the SpectrumCo spectrum. And guess what? The purchaser of the bulk of Verizon’s 700 MHz licenses, which Verizon promised to divest to promote competition – is AT&T! Mind you, this was exactly the anti-competitive scenario many of us predicted when Verizon made the offer to sell off its 700 MHz licenses in order to bulk up on its AWS footprint. Nevertheless, the FCC refused to impose a condition prohibiting the sale of the licenses to AT&T on the grounds that it could wait to see who purchased the licenses before acting. Well, now we know, and the FCC has the “hypothetical” transaction it did not want to consider last summer squarely before it today.
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