1. Monthly archive
  2. January 2016

January 2016

Future Tense
New America
Thursday, January 28, 2016
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
https://newamerica.cvent.com/events/deploying-technology-to-rescue-the-p...

As ISIS campaigns to eradicate non-Islamic cultural heritage in Iraq and Syria and developers throughout the world encroach on sites where antiquities are found, it seems as though the relics of our past have never been at greater risk of being lost to history.

Or are they? Technology like geospatial sensing, satellites, drones, 3D imaging, and the like can be deployed to restore what might otherwise be destroyed forever.

Participants:

Kirk Johnson
Sant Director, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Scott Branting
Assistant Professor of Archeology, University of Central Florida
Director for Geospatial Initiatives, American School for Oriental Research
Project Director, Heritage Mapping and Data Integration with the Cultural Heritage Initiatives

Salam Al Kuntar
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania
Associate Faculty, Penn Cultural Heritage Center

Reception to follow

Follow the discussion online by following us @FutureTenseNow


:
Can We Share the 5.9GHz 'Car Band'?

Open Technology Institute
New America
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
https://newamerica.cvent.com/events/the-road-to-gigabit-wi-fi-can-we-sha...

The auto and high-tech industries are on a collision course over more than the future of driverless cars: A more immediate battle is being waged over access to the public airwaves, sparked by a FCC proposal to pave the road for super-fast Wi-Fi by allowing unlicensed devices to share the large but mostly-unused Intelligent Transportation Services (ITS) band at 5.9 GHz.

A key concern is auto safety. The Department of Transportation has tentatively decided it will mandate the implementation of vehicle-to-vehicle communication in all new cars using a wireless technology that operates on the 5.9 GHz ITS band. Although this safety signaling technology (DSRC) will use only a portion of the band – and take 20-to-30 years to fully implement – auto companies want priority use of the entire 75 megahertz of spectrum for a host of other wireless applications and services.

Wi-Fi already carries more than 60% of all mobile device data traffic, making wireless Internet access far more available, fast and affordable. But as unlicensed bands grow more congested and users demand more high-bandwidth apps, such as video chat and streaming, opening large tracts of unlicensed spectrum 5.9 GHz is key to creating the “wider pipe” required for gigabit Wi-Fi networks.

The auto and high-tech industries are on a collision course over more than the future of driverless cars: A more immediate battle is being waged over access to the public airwaves, sparked by a FCC proposal to pave the road for super-fast Wi-Fi by allowing unlicensed devices to share the large but mostly-unused Intelligent Transportation Services (ITS) band at 5.9 GHz.

A key concern is auto safety. The Department of Transportation has tentatively decided it will mandate the implementation of vehicle-to-vehicle communication in all new cars using a wireless technology that operates on the 5.9 GHz ITS band. Although this safety signaling technology (DSRC) will use only a portion of the band – and take 20-to-30 years to fully implement – auto companies want priority use of the entire 75 megahertz of spectrum for a host of other wireless applications and services.

Wi-Fi already carries more than 60% of all mobile device data traffic, making wireless Internet access far more available, fast and affordable. But as unlicensed bands grow more congested and users demand more high-bandwidth apps, such as video chat and streaming, opening large tracts of unlicensed spectrum 5.9 GHz is key to creating the “wider pipe” required for gigabit Wi-Fi networks.

Keynote Speakers:

Jessica Rosenworcel @JRosenworcel
Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

Michael O’Rielly @mikeofcc
Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

Participants:

Nat Beuse (invited) @NHTSAgov
Associate Administrator—Vehicle Safety Research, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

Michael Calabrese @MCalabreseNAF
Director, Wireless Future Program at New America
Author, Spectrum Silos to Gigabit Wi-Fi

Dean Brenner @deanrbrenner
Senior Vice President—Government Affairs, Qualcomm Inc.

Mary Brown @CiscoPubPolicy
Senior Director—Government Affairs, Cisco

Harold Feld @haroldfeld
Senior Vice President, Public Knowledge

Rick Chessen @Chessen
Senior Vice President–Law and Regulatory Policy, National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA)

Lunch will be available beginning at 11:45 am.

Follow the conversation online using #GigabitWifi and following @OTI


T-Mobile CEO Addresses 'Binge On' Criticism

T-Mobile said more than 50 video streaming services have lined up to join the company’s controversial (but optional) zero-rated Binge On streaming program that delivers video at DVD quality (480p or better) without counting against the mobile subscriber’s monthly data caps using a bandwidth-saving proprietary adaptive bit rate system. Amid criticism from network neutrality advocates and OTT providers such as YouTube, which claims that T-Mobile’s approach is akin to “throttling,” T-Mobile has steadfastly maintained that Binge On falls within the scope of the Federal Communications Commission’s new open Internet rules. T-Mobile CEO and president John Legere addressed the recent rash of criticism about Binge On in a blog post and via an accompanying video. “There are people out there saying we’re ‘throttling.’” He wrote. “They’re playing semantics! Binge On does NOT permanently slow down data nor remove customer control.”

Usage-based pricing encourages Netflix to become better corporate netizen

[Commentary] Netflix announced a revolutionary initiative that should significantly reduce this digital footprint. Like most other streaming video providers, Netflix codes a low, medium, and high-resolution version of each title and streams the appropriate selection to a customer based on his or her available bandwidth. But each movie is coded in substantially the same fashion. Netflix coders realized that this one-size-fits-all model is inefficient. So the company will embark on an expensive project to recode its entire collection, giving each title its own set of rules. If all goes according to plan, the project will result in improved video streams while using up to 20 percent less data.

One could argue that broadband providers are encouraging Netflix to be a more responsible netizen. Netflix’s existing coding practices are inefficient, consuming more bandwidth than necessary to deliver the product to the consumer. Given Netflix’s scale and business model, this inefficiency translates to significant wasted network capacity, especially at peak times when congestion is most likely to occur. Before usage-based pricing, Netflix had little incentive to change its inefficient behavior. Usage-based pricing forced Netflix to be more mindful of the size of its digital footprint. One lesson of the Netflix recoding vignette is that price signals are important. The paid prioritization ban has prevented price signals from helping broadband providers route network packets efficiently. Now, with its inquiry into usage-based pricing practices, the Federal Communications Commission may potentially make the same mistake again. The agency should appreciate the role that usage-based pricing played in encouraging Netflix to incur a cost that will improve the efficiency of its operations and that of the network as a whole.

[Lyons is an associate professor at Boston College Law School]

Nexstar Comes to Terms on Media General Deal; Meredith Makes New Offer

Nexstar Broadcasting Group said it has negotiated terms to acquire Media General.

The transaction would pay $10.55 a share, plus 0.1249 of a Nexstar share for each Media General share. Nexstar said it will sign a definitive agreement to acquire Media General after Media General terminates its transaction with Meredith Corp. Nexstar said the form of merger agreement hasn't been fully negotiated. The Nexstar-Media General-Meredith triangle has played out over the last few months and is part of a larger story of consolidation in the broadcast business. Media General agreed to a deal with Meredith, but Media General shareholders weren't impressed that Meredith had print assets in its portfolio in addition to its TV stations and digital properties.

Following Nexstar’s announcement that it has negotiated terms to acquire Media General, Meredith countered with an amended proposal to merge with Media General.

California's New Law Affects Search Warrants for Electronic Communications, Data -- But How Much?

When the clock struck midnight Dec. 31 and rolled over into 2016, a new law mandating how law enforcement agencies could collect electronic communications and data took effect in California. Under the new rule, formally known as the California Electronic Communication Privacy Act (CalECPA), law enforcement agencies in the state are responsible for obtaining search warrants before they go after forms digital communications and information stored on devices like cellphones. For civil rights advocates, the new law was a big win in a nationwide movement to halt the haphazard use of controversial tools and tactics. For law enforcement, the law would mean changes in how they employ certain technologies, like use of bulk data collection tools.

Parents, Teens and Digital Monitoring

The widespread adoption of various digital technologies by today’s teenagers has added a modern wrinkle to a universal challenge of parenthood – specifically, striking a balance between allowing independent exploration and providing an appropriate level of parental oversight. Digital connectivity offers many potential benefits from connecting with peers to accessing educational content. But parents have also voiced concerns about the behaviors teens engage in online, the people with whom they interact and the personal information they make available. Indeed, these concerns are not limited to parents.

Lawmakers and advocates have raised concerns about issues such as online safety, cyberbullying and privacy issues affecting teens. A Pew Research Center survey of parents of 13- to 17-year-olds finds that today’s parents1 take a wide range of actions to monitor their teen’s online lives and to encourage their child to use technology in an appropriate and responsible manner. Moreover, digital technology has become so central to teens’ lives that a significant share of parents now employ a new tool to enforce family rules: “digitally grounding” misbehaving kids. Some 65% of parents have taken their teen’s cellphone or internet privileges away as a punishment. But restrictions to screen time are not always consequences of bad behavior, parents often have rules in place about how often and when their teen can go online. Some 55% of parents say they limit the amount of time or times of day their teen can be online.

Digital America: A tale of the haves and have-mores

This report is the first major attempt to measure the ongoing digitization of the US economy at a sector level.

It introduces the MGI Industry Digitization Index, which combines dozens of indicators to provide a comprehensive picture of where and how companies are building digital assets, expanding digital usage, and creating a more digital workforce. In addition to the information- and communication-technology sector, media, financial services, and professional services are surging ahead, while others have significant upside to capture.

The report also quantifies the considerable gap between the most digitized sectors and the rest of the economy over time and finds that despite a massive rush of adoption, most sectors have barely closed that gap over the past decade. The lagging sectors are less than 15 percent as digitized as the leading sectors (exhibit). In fact, because the less digitized sectors are some of the largest in terms of GDP contribution and employment, we find that the US economy as a whole is only reaching 18 percent of its digital potential (defined as the upper bounds of usage by the leading sectors across a variety of metrics).

China Remains Roadblock to Netflix's Global Expansion Ambitions

Netflix’s massive expansion of its online movie streaming service to cover 130 countries and territories has one glaring absence: China. Strict controls over content and the need for a local partner to meet licensing restrictions are standing in its way. That’s prompting talks with the nation’s largest Internet companies, including an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, to clear the way for an expansion into a country with more web users than any other. Netflix wants to become the first global online TV service, with its latest expansion adding countries including India and Russia for movies and its own content, including the critically-acclaimed of “House of Cards.” While mainland China offers an online video market estimated to reach about $14 billion within three years, content rules are strict and Internet giants Alibaba, Tencent Holdings and Baidu offer their own services. When asked why any of China’s three biggest Web operators would be a partner given their competing services, Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said Netflix was in talks with the companies and the government.

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