October 2015

Though AT&T had Wi-Fi calling enabled through much of the iOS 9 beta program earlier this year, those who upgraded to the final version found that the feature was missing. The reason? It doesn't support teletype services (TTY) for the deaf and hard of hearing very well, which the Federal Communications Commission generally requires of wireless networks.

In its place, AT&T wants to deploy real-time text (RTT), which it says is faster, richer, and generally better than TTY — a decades-old technology. That roadblock has been cleared now with a waiver granted by the FCC that lets AT&T get around the RTT rule until the end of 2017. Chief AT&T lobbyist Jim Cicconi said: “We're grateful the FCC has granted AT&T's waiver request so we can begin providing Wi-Fi calling. At the same time we are left scratching our heads as to why the FCC still seems intent on excusing the behavior of T-Mobile and Sprint, who have been offering these services without a waiver for quite some time. Instead of initiating enforcement action against them, or at least opening an investigation, the agency has effectively invited them to now apply for similar waivers and implied that their prior flaunting of FCC rules will be ignored. This is exactly what we meant when our letter spoke of concerns about asymmetric regulation.”

Facebook and Google are collaborating on efforts to use balloons and drone aircraft to expand Internet access to the four billion people that don’t have it. Documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission show that both companies are pushing for international law to be modified to make it easier to use aircraft around 20 kilometers above the earth, in the stratosphere, to provide Internet access.

Facebook and Google’s projects overlap in many ways, not just their end goals. For example, both companies are working on using lasers to transfer data rapidly, whether between stratospheric balloons, in the case of Google, or between drones and from drones to the ground, in the case of Facebook. Google also has a project of its own investigating drones for Internet access, although it, like Facebook’s project, is at a much earlier stage than the balloon effort. The two companies also face the same policy challenges. Using stratospheric drones or balloons at large scale will require changes to rules governing the use of airspace and wireless communications.

[Commentary] Officials from the US and European Union hope to come up with a new agreement soon before transatlantic digital commerce grinds to a halt and the Internet becomes balkanized by the world’s two leading economies. Their work should help set new global standards on data privacy.

Each side should consult “A Question of Trust,” a report on how to balance privacy and the need for data collection by governments and business. Author David Anderson says privacy is key to concepts such as identity, dignity, autonomy, independence, imagination and creativity. It “facilitates trust, friendship and intimacy: qualities that allow us to relate freely to each other....” Finding a trustworthy arbiter that can balance privacy and other interests, such as security and business, is not an easy task. Judges, regulators, laws, and other means must be found to build that trust.

Silicon Valley companies say they’ve been preparing for Oct 6’s European Court of Justice decision invalidating the US-Europe Safe Harbor agreement on data transfers. Their lawyers have been working to come up with legal mechanisms to keep them in compliance with EU data protection laws. But they’ve also been spending billions building data storage and processing facilities on European soil, reducing the need to transfer data to the US in the first place. That effort dovetails with an explosion of cloud based services that require more data centers.

International Data Corporation estimates that in 2015, $8.2 billion will be spent in Europe on professional cloud services, an increase from only $560 million in 2010. In light of the Safe Harbor decision -- in which the court now enables national data protection authorities to examine data transfers out of the EU -- having European based facilities makes life easier.