June 2014

Senators unveil bill to address 'massive and growing' threat

Private companies would have an easier time sharing information about cyber threats under a new bill from Senate Intelligence Committee leaders that is set to move forward.

Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) unveiled a bill that would incentivize companies to share information about cyber threats with each other and the government. The bill “responds to the massive and growing threat to national and economic security from cyber intrusion and attack, and seeks to improve the security of public and private computer networks by increasing awareness of threats and defenses,” according to a release from Feinstein’s office.

According to the release, the bill removes legal obstacles and provides liability protections for companies that want to share information about cyber threats. The bill also directs the federal government to share information about cyber threats with private companies “at the classified and unclassified levels.” The bill includes measures aimed at protecting privacy as companies share information with each other and the government.

House Judiciary To Mark Up Internet Tax Freedom Bill

The House Judiciary Committee on June 18 is marking up the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act. As its name suggests, the bill would permanently extend a ban on local and state Internet taxes that dates from 1998.

A bipartisan group of House committee and subcommittee chairmen and ranking members had introduced the bill in September 2013. It is backed by cable and telecommunications Internet service providers (ISPs). As its name implies, it would make permanent the current 1998 law that placed a moratorium on state and local governments' ability to tax Internet access or levy multiple taxes on e-commerce.

“The House Judiciary Committee is taking the first step tomorrow morning to avoid new Internet access taxes on millions of Americans across the country," said Annabelle Canning, executive director of the Internet Tax Freedom Coalition. "The markup is the first step of many to ensure consumers, students, and small businesses are not burdened with new taxes on Internet access that could be as high as double the national sales tax rate. We applaud their efforts and hope the Senate will follow suit in moving a companion bill prior to the August recess to ensure Congress extends the Internet tax moratorium before it expires on November 1.”

Net Neutrality Rules Still Shouldn’t Apply to Wireless, Wireless Industry Says

Wireless companies successfully convinced regulators in 2010 to keep mobile networks mostly free of network neutrality rules -- and it should stay that way, the mobile industry’s top lobbyist said.

Federal Communications Commission officials are looking into whether wireless networks should remain exempt from net neutrality rules under a controversial proposal released by Chairman Tom Wheeler. They’re currently seeking comments on how they might cover wireless networks under future net neutrality rules. Not surprisingly, mobile carriers aren’t thrilled by the prospect.

“Wireless is different … it is dependent on finite spectrum,” Meredith Attwell Baker, the new head of CTIA, the wireless industry’s lobbying arm, told reporters. Baker previously served as the top lobbyist for Comcast’s NBCUniversal* division, joining the company after serving as an FCC commissioner.

One Closed API at a Time, The Era Of The Open Web May Be Waning

[Commentary] APIs -- application programming interfaces -- are enablers of remix culture, essentially. And what they mix is structured data. They are, essentially, a way for companies and developers to talk to each other and build off of each other.

They're a means of converting the information a service contains into the stuff of the wider Internet. Because of all that, APIs have been seen, traditionally, as symbolic and practical.

So it's hard not to see the closure of the Netflix API, on top of the closure of all the other APIs, as symbolic in its own way -- of a new era of the web that is less concerned with outreach, and more concerned with consolidation. A web controlled by companies that prefer their own way of doing things, without external input. A web that takes the productive enthusiasms of independent developers and says, essentially, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Digital Health Embraces the Boomers

[Commentary] As many industries chase the teen world and the 18-to-34 demographic -- retail being the most prominent -- health care, that historical laggard, appears to be ahead of the game with the over-50 market.

In fact -- and perhaps even more quizzical, given the ultramodern visual of baby boomers outfitted in wearable technology -- digital health represents the most visible area of that investment. Recent research conducted by StartUp Health shows that investment in digital health in Q1 2014 more than doubled year over year. And one clear trend that popped out from the data was the scope of investment focused on the over-50 market.

Led by a growing appreciation of the value of preventative medicine, venture capital funding targeted to benefit and capitalize on areas of health that impact the 50+ market represented 53 percent of all digital-health investments from 2010 to 2013. Within that, care navigation ($2.5 billion), vital-sign monitoring ($1.95 billion) and aging with vitality ($1.27 billion) were the most-funded markets. And some emerging 50+ investor areas of interest attracting excitement and investment include behavioral and emotional health, social engagement, diet and nutrition, and physical fitness

[Stoakes is Co-Founder and President, StartUp Health]

Wireline Competition Bureau Releases Connect America Cost Model Illustrative Results Using Higher Speed Benchmark

The Federal Communications Commission Wireline Competition Bureau has released number of locations that would be eligible for the offer of model-based Connect America Phase II support if the proposed speed benchmark of 10 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream (10 Mbps/1 Mbps) is used to determine the presence of an unsubsidized competitor.

Because the Connect America Phase II budget remains the same under either scenario, the extremely high-cost threshold would decrease from $207.81 to $172.51 if the 10 Mbps downstream speed benchmark were used. Approximately 824,000 price cap carrier locations have an average cost above this $172.51 extremely high-cost threshold, whereas approximately 577,000 price cap carrier locations are above $207.81.

The results have been produced using the adopted Connect America Cost Model (CAM v4.1.1), with a new solution set to reflect 10 Mbps/768 kbps coverage. The Bureau also is releasing a list of census blocks comparing the census blocks and number of locations that would be eligible for the offer of model-based support using 3 Mbps/768 kbps to determine broadband coverage versus using 10 Mbps/768 kbps.

Inside Google's World Cup Newsroom

Inside a San Francisco office building, Google is trying its latest experiment: original sports journalism. When the 2014 World Cup began, Google unveiled a World Cup Trends Newsroom to turn search data surrounding soccer games into infographics.

For the duration of the World Cup, a team of data scientists, designers, editors, and translators will publish shareable original content in multiple languages to the microsite. The project is a bold attempt to turn Google's search results into shareable material -- and inject Google-branded content into the Facebook and Twitter ecosystems.

Inside a large open-plan floor office in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood, the 20-person staff works with an internal Google Trends dashboard to create World Cup-themed content on tight deadlines.

“Prior to each match, we look at sentiment in each country and sentiment about their competitor,” Danielle Bowers, the lead World Cup data analyst at Google Trends, said. “We then look at searches for players, and searches in general in each country. Then during a match, we use real-time tools after things like refs making a controversial call. After the matches end, we then pull summaries of the most interesting statistics.”

75th anniversary of the Library Bill of Rights

Seventy-five years ago at the 1939 American Library Association’s Annual Conference in San Francisco, the ALA Council adopted the Library’s Bill of Rights, echoing the spirit of a document from the Des Moines Public Library in 1938.

This document, refreshed in 1944, 1948, 1961, 1967, 1980 and 1996, remains the library profession’s major policy document on intellectual freedom.

All those revisions prove that the Library Bill of Rights is truly a “living document.” In fact, LBOR now has 21 Interpretations. ALA has recognized that it is a document of ideals, but also of practice -- which is why interpretations have been crafted to deal with such specific issues as privacy, children and services to the disabled.

Managing E-Rate to Maximize Benefits for Schools & Libraries

What does good management have to do with quality education? When it comes to the E-rate program, quite a bit. In recent months, we have been improving management of E-rate to speed approval of broadband expansion projects sought by schools and libraries across the country.

And it’s working: E-rate funding will reach the $1 billion milestone for funding year 2014, twice as fast as any previous year in E-Rate history.

These early commitments will enable schools and libraries to put E-rate dollars to work sooner for students and patrons. For example, E-rate supported broadband connections will help the Baltimore County Public School System continue its roll-out of a one-to-one personalized digital learning environment to the district’s 100,000 students.

We’ve made a particular effort to speed larger applications, including state and regional consortia. Included in the $1 billion of commitments to date are state-level consortium applications in Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Statewide and consortium applications can simplify processes for applicants, increase access in rural areas, and drive down costs for consortium members and for E-rate. For example, the Mississippi state consortium recently negotiated new, low, flat-rate pricing for high speed connectivity across most of the state, driving down prices for all districts, and helping rural districts get connected without special construction charges.

The program administrator -- USAC -- and the FCC have dramatically accelerated the processing of state-level consortium applications.

[Wilkins is FCC Acting Managing Director]

Paid Priority Banning Bill Draws a Crowd

Computer companies and others were quick to praise a congressional effort to ban paid prioritization, while cable operators suggested the Federal Communications Commission had it under control.

Following the introduction of the Online Competition and Consumer Choice Act on June 17 in both the House and Senate, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said that it supports the FCC's new rules and is not prioritizing anyway.

“The cable industry has consistently stated our support for sensible but clear rules which ensure that American consumers continue to enjoy an open and unfettered Internet experience," NCTA said. "Cable companies do not engage in paid prioritization and have every incentive to ensure that all consumers enjoy fast and robust Internet services. We are confident that Chairman Wheeler can restore effective rules under the path that the Court suggested, and we will work with all parties to preserve consumer protections enforced by the FCC and Federal Trade Commission.”

The Computer & Communications Industry Association was all for the bill, praising its focus on the last mile connection, but also using that as a jumping-off point to criticize paid peering. “Congresswoman Matsui and Senator Leahy have prudently focused their legislation on the problems arising from the power which Internet access providers have to arbitrarily charge edge providers for priority local or “last mile” delivery capacity," CCIA President Ed Black said, then turned it to the issue of middle mile and payments for interconnection hand-offs.

Benton

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