October 2013

Georgia clamps down on free cell phone calls for the poor

Georgia became the first US state that will begin charging low-income residents $5 per month for cell phone service now provided for free (250 minutes per month) by the federal Universal Service Fund.

The new fee is already under court challenge by the cell phone industry trade association. CTIA filed suit against Georgia months ago -- even before the measure received final approval -- claiming that by adding the $5 fee, the state is setting cell phone rates, which it does not have the legal power to do. However, according to state Public Service Commissioner Doug Everett, the fee is designed to reduce fraud in the federally subsidized Lifeline program. Commissioner Everett noted that the number of Lifeline customers in Georgia jumped from around 100,000 a decade ago to more than a million in 2011, but is now back down to around 740,000. The $5 monthly fee, scheduled to start Jan. 31, will require that telephone companies send customers a bill each month. Telephone companies will keep the $5 monthly fee, but it will not fully cover the administrative costs of sending out bills, the commissioner added.

New rules restrict telemarketing calls to your mobile

New Federal Communications Commission rules on telemarketing have taken effect.

The rules are designed to cut down on marketing calls -- especially to cell phones. The regulations require telemarketers to get written consent from consumers before calling their cell phones with automatic dialing systems. Attorney David Klein, who advises telecom companies, says the FCC is trying to tip the balance of power toward consumers. The problem with this legislation is it doesn't really stop those who are breaking the law to begin with. I think the law needs to force mobile carriers to allow easy blocking of numbers at no additional cost to the consumers. Right now I have to pay extra to get AT&T to block phone numbers and it's a limited number of numbers as well.

In Aereo Fight, Are Comcast and NBCUniversal at Odds?

Are Comcast’s cable business and its NBCUniversal entertainment unit on the same page when it comes to the Aereo legal battle? That’s a question worth asking in the wake of the petition by major broadcasters seeking a Supreme Court review of the case over the online TV-streaming service.

As close watchers of the case will remember, Aereo’s legal defense relies in part on a precedent established when Cablevision won a case several years ago to offer a so-called network digital video recorder, a cloud-based service that offered Cablevision subscribers the benefits of a DVR without the need to have a DVR device in the home. The Supreme Court then declined to hear the media companies’ appeal. Fast forward (pun intended) from 2009 to 2013: Comcast is planning to roll out its own version of a cloud-based digital video recording service. Cablevision noted that Comcast’s petition to undermine the Cablevision precedent is a “brazen attempt…to go after the legal underpinning of all cloud-based services.” It said the broadcasters’ legal approach is a “willful attempt to stifle innovation.”

What Last Week’s Anti-US Shift in Internet Governance Means to You

A Q&A with Milton Mueller, a professor of Information Studies at Syracuse University.

The heads of ICANN, the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Architecture Board, the World Wide Web Consortium and the Internet Society, backed by the heads of the regional registrars for global top-level domains, issued a statement calling for the “acceleration of the globalization” of the functions carried out by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). In the arcane world of Internet administration and governance, this was seen as something of an important shift away from the US-centric bent the Internet has had since its inception, and in time it may be seen as a turning point toward a more global governing framework. But there’s no question the transition is going to be sticky. So could all this mean for the US?

IndoorAtlas Aims to Use Magnetic Fields to Map the Insides of Buildings

Google Maps doesn’t work so well indoors. This is because signals from GPS satellites don’t easily penetrate inside of buildings -- the signals are about as strong as a dim light bulb -- and help from Wi-Fi will only get you so far. But there are numerous outfits that are aiming to fix that.

In a Q&A with Janne Haverinen, the CEO of IndoorAtlas, a startup that has spun out of Finland’s University of Oulu, Wall Street Journal inquired about the startup’s technology, which makes use of the unique magnetic properties in every building to create a sort of fingerprint. It does this using the compass chip that’s inside every smartphone. The plan for IndoorAtlas, which recently opened an office in Sunnyvale, CA, is to give developers a set of tools to build apps that harness indoor -navigation capabilities for malls, museums, or other indoor tourist attractions, for instance. “Of course, the real action is with retailers. Steer a consumer to the precise location of the product they need when they need it, the thinking goes, and you significantly boost the chance they’re going to buy,” Haverinen said. Likewise, the technology could also be useful in advertising to consumers when they’re in a particular location, as was depicted in the movie Minority Report.

Cupertino council clears huge Apple 'spaceship' campus for liftoff

Apple's proposed new spaceship-shaped headquarters got a super-charged blast-off when the Cupertino (CA) City Council voted unanimously to approve the 2.8-million-square-foot behemoth beside Interstate 280, fulfilling a dream of co-founder Steve Jobs, hatching an iconic landmark for Silicon Valley, and promising more congestion in an already traffic-challenged region for decades to come. Apple has already promised to underwrite a number of roadway improvements to alleviate the congestion throughout Cupertino, and vowed to raise from under 30 to 34 the percentage of its employees who will be using public transit or Apple's shuttle buses to commute to work.

Uber hires first DC lobbying firm

Uber, which allows people to hire private drivers using a mobile app, has waged battles across the country with local regulators. Now the company has hired its first Washington lobbying firm, according to public disclosure forms. The Franklin Square Group, which focuses on technology issues, said it will lobby for Uber on "innovation in the transportation marketplace." The firm has assigned five lobbyists, all former Capitol Hill staffers, to the account. Many cities have transportation regulations that make it difficult and sometimes impossible for Uber to operate. Taxi drivers have also urged regulators to crack down on Uber. Federal agencies, however, have been friendlier to the transportation start-up.

Glen Echo Hires Former FCC Official Satterwhite

Communications and advocacy firm The Glen Echo Group has hired former Federal Communications Commission official Ellen Satterwhite as a director.

Satterwhite was consumer policy advisor in the FCC's Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau, where she worked on surveys of broadband adoption for the National Broadband Plan under the plan's architect, Blair Levin. At Glen Echo, Satterwhite will manage strategic communications for high-tech clients.

Stations Fear Auction Threat To Wireless Microphones

Unless protections are adopted, television broadcasters and equipment makers say the Federal Communication Commission's proposed spectrum auction and subsequent band repacking could reduce or eliminate wireless frequencies needed to cover live breaking news and other events.

Wireless microphones that TV reporters use for electronic news-gathering (ENG) could be in jeopardy. Joe Ciaudelli, director of spectrum affairs at Sennheiser, says the FCC recognizes the problem. “But their great white hope is that microphone manufacturers will come up with some miracle solution,” he says. In August 2013, Sinclair Broadcast Group, CBS, Fox, ABC and 23 others co-signed a letter to FCC Interim Chairwomen Mignon Clyburn, urging the FCC to preserve the two channels set aside for wireless microphone use in each market. The broadcasters pointed to major events such as Superstorm Sandy and the Boston Marathon bombings as examples of fast-developing news stories that relied on wireless microphones.

NATPE, CEA To Study Second-Screen Use

The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) have jointly commissioned a two-part research study to learn more about how and why consumers use second-screen devices to engage with video content.

The two-pronged research project will measure how consumers and content creators incorporate second screen to interact with media. The findings will be presented in January 2014 at the International CES and NATPE Market & Conference. The two groups said the research, to be conducted by third-party market research company E-Poll Market Research, is the first study to measure how the use of companion devices to interact in real time with TV programming affects both the consumer experience and the creative process of the content universe. It is designed to demonstrate the ways in which the content and technology industries can enhance engagement, user experience and revenue in the future.

Benton

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