December 2014

This Day in History: One Small Step for a President, One Huge Leap for Digital Communications at the White House

On December 6, 1923, President Calvin Coolidge took one small step for a president and one huge leap for communications at the White House.

On this day in history, President Coolidge became the first president to address the American people on broadcast radio. President Coolidge delivered a message about national priorities and the state of the nation to a joint session of Congress. Nowadays, that speech is known as the State of the Union address. Over the years, technology has greatly changed the way Presidents deliver the State of the Union address. We've moved from broadcast radio to television, and now the Internet.

Here's a timeline of some of the digital "firsts" when it comes to the State of the Union address:

President Calvin Coolidge in 1923: First radio broadcast of the address
President Harry Truman in 1947: First televised broadcast of the address
President George W. Bush in 2002: First live webcast on the Internet of the address
President Barack Obama in 2011: First to live-tweet the address

Could Europe really break up Google? A look at what's possible -- and likely

Europe’s elected elite want to break up Google. But leading experts and academics say it’s not going to happen, calling it a nuclear option that would have made more sense in larger, prior corporate scandals.

There are several paths forward, experts say. Splitting up Google by unbundling its search business from its advertising business would leave the company without a way to make money from its search results “What’s most likely to happen, and what will hopefully happen, is a continuation of the resolution for which [former EU competition commissioner Joaquín] Almunia set the framework before he left office,” says David Balto, a former US Justice Department antitrust lawyer. Politics and pressure behind the scenes from Google’s competitors -- including Microsoft -- have dragged the case out “to draw as much blood as possible,” Balto argues. One question is whether the Commission has enough evidence to support moving from seeking a settlement to conducting an infringement procedure.

Give National Security Agency unlimited access to digital data, says federal judge

The National Security Agency should have an unlimited ability to collect digital information in the name of protecting the country against terrorism and other threats, according to influential Judge Richard Posnerof the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Congress should limit the NSA's use of the data it collects -- for example, not giving information about minor crimes to law enforcement agencies -- but it shouldn't limit what information the NSA sweeps up and searches, Judge Posner said. "If the NSA wants to vacuum all the trillions of bits of information that are crawling through the electronic worldwide networks, I think that's fine," he said. In the name of national security, US lawmakers should give the NSA "carte blanche," Judge Posner added. "Privacy interests should really have very little weight when you're talking about national security," he said. "The world is in an extremely turbulent state -- very dangerous."

House bill would ban feds from weakening digital security

Hours after Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced legislation to prevent the government from forcing companies to build backdoors into their technology, Rep Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) has unveiled a similar bill for the House. The timing of the bill, with just days left on the congressional calendar, makes it unlikely to move forward in 2014. Yet the coordinated action in both chambers of Congress sends a strong signal to the Obama Administration that some lawmakers are prepared to fight against the FBI’s demand that it be able to access people's cellphones and other devices.

FCC Announces Entities Provisionally Selected for Rural Broadband Experiments; Sets Deadlines for Submissions of Additional Information

The Federal Communications Commission announces the bidders that have been provisionally selected for funding for rural broadband experiments, subject to the post-selection review process, for the rural broadband experiments. Each identified bidder must complete certain steps in order to be authorized to receive Connect America Fund support for its rural broadband experiment. With the release of this Public Notice, the post-selection review process for these bidders now begins. The deadlines for submissions of additional information by selected entities is Friday, December 19, 2014.

Bringing Lifeline into the Broadband World

[Commentary] Statistics on Internet adoption are clear: Among the entire US population, low-income households are the least likely to subscribe. With job postings, continuing education, and the best shopping deals all now online, lacking an Internet connection becomes a significant barrier to professional and personal opportunity. To help address this inequity, the Federal Communication Commission has a program -- called Lifeline -- specifically targeting telecommunications service for low-income persons. Unfortunately, the program is stuck in the 1980s and continues to only subsidize voice service, ignoring broadband entirely.

Fortunately, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn has taken on the challenge of advocating the transition of the existing program to the broadband era. At a recent speech, Clyburn underscored the many ways broadband is now essential for participating in the economic and civic life of a community. To bring those benefits to those most in need, she outlined a framework for changing the program.

Remarkably, in a town driven by divides, immediate respondents had universal support for these reform principles. That kind of response suggests we may be one step closer to the day where everyone can afford broadband service.

[Blair Levin is a nonresident senior fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program]

Feds Want Flexible Policy to Regulate the Internet of Things

Legislators see the need for regulating the Internet of Things, but are wary of discouraging innovation in the world of connected devices.

Sen Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Sen Deb Fischer (R-NE), Sen Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Rep Suzan DelBene (D-WA) all stressed the need for policymakers to take a light but firm hand on how to address the benefits and complex data security and privacy issues associated with machine-to-machine communication as connected technology continues to expand worldwide. They cited a plethora of statistics noting that more than 37 billion intelligent devices will be online and connected by 2020, and 90 percent of the world’s data has been generated just in the last two years. As a result, the assembled elected leaders presented a united front encouraging education on IoT and the need for immediate policymaking on the topic before becomes too cumbersome to appropriately regulate.

Padden's Auction Fight May Be Yours, Too

[Commentary] As head of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, Preston Padden is working to ensure that all station owners who want to sell their spectrum in the Federal Communications Commission incentive auction get the highest price possible. While I still believe it's a mistake for strong, news-producing TV stations to sell their spectrum, there are plenty of broadcasters who should be thinking about taking the auction exit. And if they are thinking about it, they should also be thinking about joining Padden's fight for a broadcast-friendly auction. Padden can talk at great length about how broadcasters could get shortchanged, and what needs to be done to prevent it. Just ask those FCC officials with whom he met this week. And he could certainly use some help.

Mobile takes screen time from TV, but consumers pay more for cable

Mobile apps may be taking screen time from television, but consumers are still paying much more for TV.

The average American consumer pays 64 cents per hour of entertainment on cable TV, compared with 11 cents on mobile games, analytics firm Flurry reported in a study. That means Americans are paying about 5.8 times more for one hour of cable. That number was about the same last year. Although the average consumer paid only one-half cent more on mobile gaming between 2013 and 2014, time and money spent on mobile gaming is on the rise, said Flurry’s chief executive, Simon Khalaf.

Google Fiber's broadband dreams aren't making cable TV any better

[Commentary] Google is pushing the envelope with Fiber as an Internet service, but as a cable provider, the company seems content with delivering an experience that's par for the course.

Use Google Fiber's TV interface for five minutes, and you'll immediately realize Fiber TV could be so much more. The immediate and pressing problem is a glaring lack of cohesion with Google's other products and services. Perhaps Google's doing the bare minimum to keep cable customers comfortable while ultimately counting on HBO, CBS, Sony, and others to obliterate the market as we know it 10 years down the line. Then it won't even have to worry about being cable company Google anymore. If Google sets its sights on improving the concept of what cable TV should be, we'd all be better off for it.

Benton

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