June 2014

Is Australia’s government fiber initiative crowding out private investment?

[Commentary] Just when we thought the tales of the Australian government-funded nationwide fiber-to-the-home network could not get more incredible, news emerges that that the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has been called upon to make a ruling on the legality of private sector firm TPG’s plan to provide fiber-to-the-basement services to high-rise apartment buildings in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Docklands.

Docklands does not yet feature on any National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout plans, and residents are apparently crying out for better broadband services. If this were the United States, then TPG’s plans would be manna from heaven, not cause for administrative inquiry. The problem is that, under anti-cherry-picking provisions governing the NBN, competing network operators must offer services under the same terms as the NBN. So the ombudsman is being asked to determine whether a new service, which offers capabilities not currently available to residential consumers, is illegal because it does not provide its services under the same institutional arrangements as another service which could be (but is not) offering services presently in the area.

If the ombudsman decides that it is illegal, then the good citizens of Docklands will have no choice but to continue with their current ADSL and wireless services. Not because there is no fiber available, or because no-one is prepared to invest, but because allowing a non-approved business model may stand in the way of forming a new government monopoly super-fast internetwork in the manner intended.

[Howell is general manager for the New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation]

FCC Chairman Wheeler Recuses Self from AT&T IP Trials Decision

Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler said he is recusing himself from the AT&T IP transition trials decision. Chairman Wheeler is a former board member at EarthLink, which has petitioned the FCC to participate in the AT&T trials.

He pointed out that there is plenty of other IP transition work to be done, and that he will be involved in.

In an update on AT&T's proposal to test retirement of traditional circuit-switched service in two wire centers -- in Alabama and Florida -- FCC staffers said at the June public meeting that the commission would employ a third party to insure no bias in the tests. They said that AT&T had agreed to work collaboratively with the commission.

The FCC has approved a framework for the AT&T tests, but has not provided final approval, which will depend on answers to a variety of questions, like how it will support legacy services like 911, health monitoring, credit card processing, and fax services with the new fiber and wireless replacement services.

Also a point of concern is how the replacement services will support Government Emergency Telecommunications Services (GETS), which allows public safety calls to get through when others can't.

AT&T Wants to Replace DSL with Wireless in TDM-to-IP Transition Trials

AT&T wants to discontinue offering DSL service to some customers in its TDM-to-IP transition trials, said FCC officials at the commission’s monthly meeting, where an update on plans for the trials was provided.

The company envisions that its cellular-based Wireless Home Phone would replace DSL for many customers, the officials said, noting however that the FCC has concerns about whether the offering would be a suitable replacement. FCC officials also noted that the commission plans to select a “third party” to develop a research methodology for the TDM-to-IP transition trials and that AT&T has expressed its willingness to work with the third party, the officials said.

AT&T has told the FCC that it expects to seek approvals in the second half of 2015 to discontinue certain traditional TDM services, officials said.

FCC officials noted that trial-related development efforts underway at AT&T include:

How to deliver a street address to 911 using the wireless-based service
Making replacement offerings compatible with alarm systems, medical alerts, fax machines and devices used to validate credit cards
Making replacement products TTY accessible
How to serve approximately 4% of the customers in Carbon Hill who do not have access to AT&T U-verse or to AT&T wireless service

Could wireless replace wearables?

These days there's perhaps no hotter tech topic than wearable sensors. Earlier in June, for instance, Apple announced a new “Health Kit” app for smartphones that tracks a person's health.

But events such as Fitbit's recent recall of more than 1 million fitness bands over user skin irritations -- and research contending that health-trackers may be no more effective than a $25 pedometer -- suggest that wearables have their drawbacks. Imagine, then, if there was a technology that monitors your vital signs without touching your body -- potentially even from another room.

Such science-fiction fantasies are becoming a reality, thanks to research conducted at MIT’s Wireless Center, hosted in the Computer Science and Artificial intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Their latest report demonstrates that they can now detect gestures as subtle as the rise and fall of a person’s chest. From that, they can determine a person's heart rate with 99 percent accuracy. The research could be used for health-tracking apps, baby monitors, and for the military and law enforcement.

Gov’t must give up 5 secret surveillance docs for court to review, judge orders

In a key transparency case, a federal judge has ordered the United States government to hand over four orders and one opinion from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) published in secret between 2005 and 2008.

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers will then review those documents in private.

The case, known as Electronic Frontier Foundation v. Department of Justice, hinges on which, if any, documents from the FISC should be made public.

The original lawsuit dates back to October 2011, when the EFF asked the government to handover “all reports, memoranda, guidance, presentations, legal briefs, e-mails or any other record” pertaining to Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act.

The EFF and the DOJ faced off in federal court in Oakland, California in early June -- EFF attorney Mark Rumold asked the judge to review the FISC’s orders, and decide which ones must be released. The court is now moving in that direction.

A Practical Model for Real Privacy Protection

[Commentary] In their recent paper “Databuse and a Trusteeship Model of Consumer Protection in the Big Data Era”, Benjamin Wittes and Wells Bennett argue we need to reconceptualize privacy.

Privacy has morphed into a notion that could describe a range of beliefs and precisely but captures none of the potential harms. Consumers care about privacy, “in proportion to whether it is used for our benefit or to our detriment and critically, how seriously to our detriment.”

The authors invoke the concept of databause. Databuse is a negative right that invokes companies to safeguard consumers from undesired harms that might result from the sharing of data. They argue for a trusteeship model where companies are responsible to serve as good stewards of the data consumers entrust to them.

The authors identify several attributes of a good data trustee:
Safely store private data
Never use data in a way that injures consumers
Disclose uses of data in an open and clear manner
To the greatest degree possible give users control over how their data is shared and used
Keep promises to consumers about data

Netflix Will Shut Down Public API Support For Third-Party Developers On November 14

Netflix is getting a lot stingier with the way that third-party developers can use its content, announcing that it will stop supporting its public application program interface (API) by the end of 2014.

In a letter to API partners, Netflix VP of Edge Engineering Daniel Jacobson announced that it would retire the public API program effective November 14.

The decision to shut down its API seems a long time coming. Launched in 2008, the API originally provided third-party developers a way to access and point to content that users could get from Netflix in its streaming and DVD catalogs. That helped the company grow, as subscribers could use third-party apps to check the availability of titles, reserve DVDs, and even link directly to streaming content on the web. At the same time, it gave developers a way to build new experiences around Netflix content that they weren’t licensing themselves.

But with more than 35 million subscribers in the US and another 12.5 million internationally, the company apparently no longer needs third-party support to help it grow. Instead, it’s decided to limit API access to the apps that it builds and those from select partners.

LPFM Update

Media Bureau, Audio Division, on June 13, 2014 has set a low-powered FM order. There are 6350 pending translator tech box applications to date. After delay, the window for application for translatorswill be opened October 17 – November 15. 2826 applications have been filed, out of those, 2805 are new station applications.

Statement Of Commissioner Ajit Pai On The Media Bureau’s Presentation On The Status Of The LPFM Proceeding

In my home state of Kansas, for instance, no fewer than five new Spanish-language LPFM stations have already been approved during this window. These stations will serve communities big and small, from Topeka, the state capital, to Ulysses, a small town of about 6,000 people in southwest Kansas named after our nation’s 18th President.

A new Chinese-language LPFM station has also been approved to serve Lawrence, Kansas. These unique offerings are exactly what Congress intended when it passed the Local Community Radio Act in 2010. Given the static facing the AM band, we can’t afford to delay. Let’s set the end of October as the deadline for action and prioritize opening an FM translator window for AM broadcasters.

Boulder Seeks Authority To Create Citywide Broadband Network

Boulder may ask voters to give the city the authority to provide its own high-speed Internet and telecommunications services. In a memo to the City Council, Boulder officials asked that a ballot measure "affirming" the city's right to offer such services be placed on the November ballot.

There are no specific plans in place to provide such services as a city venture or as a public-private partnership, the memo said. However, state law does not allow cities to offer telecommunications services unless their voters approve an exemption.

The Boulder City Council decided to consider a ballot measure after lobbying efforts to change state law were unsuccessful this session.

Boulder has roughly 100 miles of fiber-optic cable providing high-speed Internet capabilities to city offices, the University of Colorado and the federal labs, but because the city is restricted by state law, Boulder hasn't been able to expand that network to offer similar capabilities to residents or businesses, officials said.

Benton

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