September 2013

FCC’s Pai: Thriving Broadband Is Boon To LGBT Community

Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai told the inaugural forum of the newly formed Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Technology Partnership that promoting broadband would benefit the LGBT community "by making it easier to connect, easier to learn, and easier to engage in self-expression."

Commissioner Pai said that gay teens spend more time online than straight teens, and are more likely to search the Internet for health information. "We have to ensure that the Internet, with all its power and promise, continues to thrive for all people, including those in the LGBT community," he said. "Domestically, that means we need to incentivize the deployment of next-generation networks by modernizing regulations. And internationally that means continuing the fight to keep the Internet free from government control." Commissioner Pai used the speech to press for regulatory reform, IP transition pilot programs and online speech crackdowns abroad, including gay-unfriendly Russia. "I'm only half-joking when I say that I wonder whether Ivi -- Russia's counterpart to Netflix -- will soon be removing Brokeback Mountain from its Internet streaming service," he said.

FCC Inundated With Miley Cyrus Complaints

The uproar over Miley Cyrus' MTV Video Music Awards performance just won't stop. Its newest iteration comes in the form of more than 150 complaints to the Federal Communications Commission from concerned citizens across the country who want MTV or Cyrus herself punished for indecency. The complaints point out that MTV rated the show as TV-14, meaning that means that a program "contains some material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age." The FCC declined to comment. The FCC regulates only broadcast TV stations, not cable networks.

NPR To Offer Voluntary Buyouts In Bid To Balance Budget

With the goal to balance its budget in fiscal year 2015, National Public Radio will soon offer "a voluntary buyout plan across the organization that reduces staffing levels by approximately 10 percent." The organization now has 840 full- and part-time employees. The recent recession hit NPR and most other media outlets as contributors/advertisers scaled back their spending. NPR's financial future has also been complicated by discussions on Capitol Hill about scaling back or eliminating federal support for public broadcasting.

Telemedicine bill would allow docs to practice across state lines

Medicare providers would be able to treat patients electronically across state lines without having to obtain multiple state medical licenses, according to new legislation proposed in the House.

The TELEmedicine for MEDicare (TELE-MED) Act (HR 3077) "updates the law to account for rapid technological advances in medicine," according to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), who sponsored the bill. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) co-sponsored the legislation. "By reducing bureaucratic and legal barriers between Medicare patients and their doctors, it expands medical access and choice for America's seniors and the disabled," Rep. Nunes said. The bill was lauded by the Health IT Now Coalition, which called the legislation "essential" to promoting the benefits of telemedicine.

Paul Haaga Jr Will Serve As Acting President and CEO of NPR

Paul G. Haaga, Jr. will serve as Acting President & CEO of National Public Radio effective September 30.

Haaga has served on the Board since 2011, most recently as Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of its Finance Committee. Haaga will succeed NPR President and CEO Gary E. Knell, who recently announced that he will leave the organization to become President and CEO of the National Geographic Society. NPR has appointed a search committee, co-chaired by Board members Florence Rogers, President and General Manager, Nevada Public Radio, and John Wotowicz, Managing Partner, Concentric Capital, to lead the search for a permanent CEO.

Our Bogus ‘Debate’ About PSTN Trials.

One of the more common and frustrating problems in Policyland is when a debate over something vital and important gets hijacked for broader agendas. Case in point, AT&T’s much debated proposal to do some form of trial or pilot program (or series of same) to move forward as part of AT&T’s plan to upgrade its networks from traditional copper to voice-over Internet protocol (VOIP) in some spots and to retire copper in favor of wireless only in other places.

While I have lambasted Verizon for making the people of Fire Island “guinea pigs” and “involuntary beta testers,” it would be idiotic not to learn from the data we collected in 3 months. And lesson one is: no, despite the fact that lots of Internet protocol-based and wireless technologies are out there in the market doing fine, we still don’t know what happens when you shut off the traditional copper safety net. So we need to conduct the following tests: Trial #1: Voice Quality and Reliability Trial #2: Device and Service Survey.

I have several reasons why I want this done through the Federal Communications Commission (and the state Public Service Commissions, which everyone seems to forget). 1. These tests will require waiver of certain rules. 2. Immunization against liability. 3. Access to data for everyone. 4. Someone has to decide when to pull the plug. But I also want to point out we do not need to wait for AT&T or the CLECs to get over themselves and start taking this seriously.

President Obama Taps Arroyo for CPB Board

President Barack Obama will nominate David J. Arroyo to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Arroyo is Senior Vice President for Legal Affairs at Scripps Networks Interactive, where he has worked since 2004. Previously, from 2000 to 2004, Arroyo was an associate at the firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He served as Chairman of the Board of Latino Justice (formerly the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund) from 2008 to 2012. He was recognized in 2012 by the Imagen Foundation as among the most influential Latinos in entertainment, and in 2010, he received the Luminary Award from the National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Communications. Arroyo received a BA from Duke University and a JD from the University of Michigan Law School.

Dropbox takes a peek at files

Dropbox takes a peek at some kinds of uploaded files. That's normal, the Web storage service says. The disclosure comes after a test of the service found that several ".doc" files were opened after being uploaded to Dropbox. Dropbox's behavior was detected using HoneyDocs, a new Web-based service that creates a log showing when and where a document was opened. Security experts generally recommend that for stronger privacy, users should encrypt documents before transmitting those files to Web-based storage providers.

Where's Your Press Pass?

[Commentary] While members of Congress debating a media shield law are trying to decide who “counts” as a journalist, people attempting to cover communities around the country are being blocked, harassed and even arrested.

Deciding who’s eligible for press credentials is a complex matter. Who issues these credentials — and how issuing decisions are made — varies around the country and at the local, state and national level. Free Press is partnering with Harvard’s Digital Media Law Project, the Investigative News Network, the National Press Photographers Association, Journalists’ Resource and the Nieman Journalism Lab to launch a new study on media credentialing. We'll get this survey out to newsrooms, but it’s also vital that we hear from independent, freelance and citizen journalists. Working at the edges of the industry and without a newsroom’s protections, these are the folks who often find it most difficult to obtain press credentials.

Verizon's diabolical plan to turn the Web into pay-per-view

[Commentary] Think of all the things that tick you off about cable TV. You can't pay just for the couple of dozen channels you actually watch. Instead, you have to pay for a couple of hundred channels, because the good stuff is scattered among a number of overstuffed packages. Now, imagine that the Internet worked that way. You'd hate it, of course. But that's the direction that Verizon, with the support of many wired and wireless carriers, would like to push the Web.

As it stands now, you pay your Internet service provider (ISP) and go wherever you want on the Web. Packets of bits are just packets and have to be treated equally. That's the essence of network neutrality. But Verizon's plan, which the company has outlined during hearings in federal court and before Congress, would change that. Verizon and its allies would like to charge websites that carry popular content for the privilege of moving their packets to your connected device. Indeed, if that system had been in place 10 years ago, fledglings like Google or YouTube or Facebook might never have gotten out of the nest. Susan Crawford, a tech policy expert and professor at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, says Verizon wants to "cable-ize the Internet." The term common carrier means that the company doing the shipping can't mess with the contents and the FCC has never ruled that ISPs are common carriers, partly because it's afraid of the power of the lobbyists to influence Congress and partly because its directors lack spine. And now that lack of spine is about to bite the butt of everyone who uses the Web.

Benton

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