July 2014

What’s in the E-rate Order? A Streamlined Process

The third major goal adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in the latest E-rate reform proceeding is to make the E-rate application process (and other E-rate processes) fast, simple and efficient.

The FCC adopted a number of programmatic changes, including simplifying the application process by providing a process for expediting the filing and review of applications involving multi-year contracts; eliminating technology plans for internal connections; simplifying and clarifying applicants’ discount rate calculations; simplifying the invoicing and disbursement process; and requiring all Universal Service Fund (USF) requests for review to be filed initially with the E-rate administrator, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).

The FCC also aims to reduce the administrative burden on applicants by processing and managing applications more efficiently, modernizing its E-rate information technology (IT) systems, timely publishing all non-confidential E-rate data in an open and standardized format, and communicating more clearly with E-rate applicants and service providers.

TWC's Dodgers channel dispute a case for a la carte pricing

[Commentary] Time Warner Cable was patting itself on the back after saying it was willing to have a federal arbitrator step in to resolve its long-running dispute with other pay-TV companies over the cost of the new Dodgers channel.

Arbitration with Time Warner Cable over the Dodgers channel would only perpetuate this corrupt system. On the other hand, offering SportsNet LA only to those who want it -- as DirecTV and other pay-TV companies have proposed -- would almost certainly prompt demands for all sports channels to be offered a la carte. Then it would be just a matter of time before other programming tiers -- movies, news, religious and foreign-language shows -- are similarly unbundled. And before long, we'll arrive at the only reasonable destination: allowing consumers to pick their channels in the same way they decide all other purchases: based on their individual wants and not on the demands of some broadcasting executive in New York.

Why did all these countries start asking for Twitter’s user data?

[Commentary] Twitter's latest transparency report is out, and the company's new data show a 46-percent jump in the number of government requests for user information since the company issued its last report covering July to December of 2013. Since its last transparency report, Twitter says eight new countries have begun asking for user data, for a total of 54.

What explains the spread isn't clear. Maybe governments are learning from each other that online user information is a useful tool. Maybe as adoption of technology (and of specific services like Twitter) grows in other countries, there's more information to be mined from people the government would be investigating anyway. Or maybe the very proliferation of transparency reports is drawing attention to this option for governments around the world.

Judge Rules That Microsoft Must Turn Over Data Stored in Ireland

Judge Loretta Preska of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York upheld a magistrate judge’s earlier ruling that Microsoft must turn over the customer’s e-mails, held in a Microsoft data center in Ireland. Judge Preska agreed to stay her order while the company pursues an appeal.

The issue at the heart of the case is whether communications kept in data centers operated by American companies are beyond the reach of domestic search warrants. The Microsoft case is believed to be the first time that a United States company has fought against a domestic search warrant for data stored overseas.

The Public Sector Considers Mobile-First Approaches to Citizen Interactions

More states and cities are announcing “mobile-first” strategies, but what does that really mean?

Top tech execs need to speak up on diversity

[Commentary] The sound of silence. That's what we're hearing from tech's biggest names about their industry's woeful record on diversity in the workforce and the urgent need to improve it Not one high-ranking CEO has stepped up to provide leadership for the industry or articulate concrete plans for diversifying the workforce.

This is puzzling and disappointing.

NCTA's Powell: TiVo Just Wrong About CableCARD

National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Michael Powell called "spurious" TiVo’s claim that an agreement between TiVo and Comcast to work on a non-CableCARD retail set-top retail "solution" argues for retaining the ban on integrated security and channel surfing functions in leased boxes.

Cord Cutting Hits European Markets, Report Finds

Cord-cutting, the bane of traditional cable and pay-TV, may finally have reached Europe.

A study published by UK research group IHS Technology found that “TV cord-cutting is now an undeniable phenomenon in a large number of European markets” with growth in traditional pay-TV declining in 12 European territories in the first quarter of 2014.

FCC Will Begin Accepting Law Student And Judicial Clerk Applications

The Federal Communications Commission will accept applications from graduating law students and current judicial clerks for its Fall 2015 Attorney Honors Program.

The application window opens on August 1, 2014.

Attorneys at the FCC work on cutting-edge legal and policy issues in the communications and technology arenas. They promote the deployment of high-speed broadband communications; protect the rights of consumers; promote access to communications services for all Americans, including Americans with disabilities; review major mergers and acquisitions; and promote public safety and homeland security.

Bart Gibbon, Information Technology Engineer, Office of Policy Coordination and Management

Bart Gibbon is an information technology engineer at National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s remote site operations in Gettysburg (PA), he has worked since he joined the agency in 2005.

He spends his days in a different setting than the typical NTIA employee, but he says his work in the information technology department is just like that of any IT engineer.

Until recently, Gibbon was the sole IT employee at the Gettysburg office. The main purpose behind the facility is “continuity of operations,” Gibbon explains. Employees like Gibbon work to ensure that in the event of emergency, key NTIA employees can transfer to the site and continue their work.

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