February 2016

New Jersey Okays Charter-TWC

Charter has gotten the OK from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to merge with Time Warner Cable, provided it spends on customer service, maintains open Internet protections and has no data caps for at least three years. That approval isn't quite as important as the same call from the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice, but it is a step in the right direction for Charter. The approval came with a price: The approval contains more than a half-dozen conditions, including spending at least three quarters of a million dollars on customer service improvements, and notice and explanations of any cuts of more than 15% of the New Jersey workforce. Other conditions are:

Charter to offer a Low-Income Broadband Program within 15 months that provides service at $14.99 a month, including a modem, at speeds of 30 Mps download/4 Mbps upload for households with children eligible for the National School Lunch Program or Seniors 65 or older eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
The continuation of Time Warner Cable’s Everyday Low Price $14.99 Broadband Service to existing customers for 3 years and new Charter customers for a period 2 years
Charter is to continue to offer Time Warner Cable’s Maxx Broadband offering with speeds up to 300 Mbps for 3 years
Charter will continue its practice of no data caps and providing Open Internet Protection per FCC requirements for 3 years
Charter to take on the liability of Time Warner Cable for pending 2003 rate appeals pending before the Federal Communications Commission
As part of the approval, Time Warner Cable agreed to pay $300,000 to settle any outstanding alleged violations of board "Orders, Statutes, and Regulations.

Reps Compromise on Net Neutrality Transparency Waiver

The House Commerce Committee has reached a compromise on a bill to make somewhat more permanent the Federal Communications Commission's temporary exemption for smaller cable operators from enhanced transparency rules under the FCC's new Open Internet order. According to a bipartisan amendment to the bill that is scheduled to be considered at a markup in the full committee, the definition of small business is now 250,000 subscribers (the FCC exemption applied to systems with 100,000 and fewer) and the exemption sunsets after five years.

The FCC is also directed to report to the Committee, and the Senate Commerce Committee, which also has principal jurisdiction over the FCC, within six months of enactment its recommendations for whether the exemption should be permanent and whether that 250,000 figure should be adjusted. The amendment was co-sponsored by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Rep Dave Loebsack (D-IA). Republican Reps had wanted a permanent waiver and Democratic Reps a term-limited one. The Democratic Reps won that one, though with the report caveat. The subscriber count was also closer to the Democratic Rep opening bids, so Chairman Walden was true to his word that he was searching for common ground and compromise and thought it could be achieved. That FCC recently extended the exemption for a year and put off a decision about making it permanent while it collected more info on the impact of the enhanced transparency requirements on small businesses, but Congress doesn't want to wait that long.

Google Fiber coming to San Francisco, using someone else’s fiber

Google Fiber announced plans to offer Internet service in San Francisco (CA) apartments, condos, and affordable housing properties. Instead of installing its own fiber cables, Google said it will use existing fiber, allowing it to bring service to the city more quickly. Google may need to do some work outside and inside buildings to connect properties to the existing fiber, but otherwise not much construction will be required. This is similar to a deal Google announced with a city-owned utility in Huntsville (AL). But in the San Francisco case, Google is not saying what entity it is leasing or buying fiber from or when it will start offering service. With the addition of San Francisco, there are now seven metro areas where Google Fiber plans to offer service in addition to the four where it already serves customers. Google Fiber lists another 11 metro areas as "potential" fiber cities. In most cities, Google says it is building fiber networks from scratch.

Comcast responds to Huntsville's (AL) Google Fiber announcement

With the announcement of Google Fiber entering the Huntsville (AL) market still fresh on people's minds, many are wondering what will happen to the city's current television and Internet service providers. Comcast, one of the larger providers in Huntsville, is planning on expanding and improving its network and services for local customers.

"We announced last week we had become the first provider to deliver cloud-based video service to residential customers in Huntsville," says Comcast spokesperson Alex Horwitz, "It’s a new innovation that lets customers view live television on any mobile device in their home. Additionally, they can download recorded programs from their DVR onto their mobile devices for viewing anytime and anywhere." Comcast claims it provides the fastest speeds to the most homes in the Huntsville area, and it may take a considerable amount of time before a competitor can offer a widespread population similar or superior services."Any newcomer would need to build an enormous network capable of delivering video and data to provide what we have already invested heavily to build," Horwitz says.

West Virginia Passes Middle-Mile Network Broadband Plan

The West Virginia Senate passed a bill to create a new state broadband middle-mile network and another to legalize fantasy football and other online fantasy games. The broadband bill creates a state-owned 2,000-plus-mile Broadband Middle Mile Infrastructure. Middle mile is a network of cables and towers, a kind of interstate highway, from which last-mile connections to homes and businesses are made.

This network will be fiber optic cable and open to any provider that wants to tie into it to provide last-mile service. The provider would pay fees reflecting construction and maintenance costs for the privilege of access. The state may purchase existing fiber, of at least 144 strands, to incorporate into the network. Funds for the project — grants, loans, bonds — will go into a special account created by the Water Development Authority and disbursed by the Broadband Enhancement Counsel. The authority will establish zones around the state and bid out construction jobs in each zone.

Telecom companies band together in SD and MN

A Sioux Falls (SD)-based company has linked telecommunications companies throughout southern Minnesota in creating a fiber optic network that offers better Internet connectivity. That group is comprised of six independent telephone companies in southern Minnesota, including AcenTek of Houston and KM Telecom of Kasson, one in northern Iowa and SDN Communications of Sioux Falls. The group connected the systems of the six Minnesota members and added some new connections to create a broadband network to serve the southern quarter of Minnesota. "The network positions the eight participating companies, as well as rural communities within the service territory, to compete for new business opportunities on a local, regional, and national scale," according to a press release from SDN, which serves as the managing partner for of group. Mark Shlanta, SDN's CEO, says the project is SDN's biggest expansion in more than a decade in terms of territory, fiber miles and business opportunities. SDN specializes in providing connectivity and managed telecom services to businesses and institutions.

Building Connected Communities

Public libraries have established themselves as vital resources in a technology-driven world. Technology is constantly evolving, bringing both opportunities and challenges. What is nice to have one day becomes essential the next. “Meeting the growing technology needs of our communities is an expensive fiscal challenge, but it absolutely has to be a priority,” said Pat Martel, city manager of Daly City, California, and president of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). “The opportunities are what we can envision and the sky’s the limit.”

The pace of change and its immediate impact on daily life and economic success make the role of public libraries as trusted guides in a rapidly changing world increasingly vital. Every day, libraries offer programs, services, and resources that introduce the possibilities of technology, build digital literacy skills, and provide access for all. This Leadership Brief highlights the role of libraries as community technology leaders who are uniquely qualified to bridge digital divides, support community priorities, and improve quality of life, working in close partnership with community leaders. It provides examples of how libraries are leveraging technology to deliver services that meet community needs and identifies six action strategies to achieve the best possible opportunities for the entire community.

The Apple Case Will Grope Its Way Into Your Future

[Commentary] To understand what’s at stake in the battle between Apple and the FBI over cracking open a terrorist’s smartphone, it helps to be able to predict the future of the tech industry. For that, here’s one bet you’ll never lose money on: Digital technology always grows hungrier for more personal information, and we users nearly always accede to its demands. Today’s smartphones hold a lot of personal data — your correspondence, your photos, your location, your dignity. But tomorrow’s devices, many of which are already around in rudimentary forms, will hold a lot more. Everyday devices will be recording and analyzing your every utterance and action. This gets to why tech companies, not to mention we users, should fear the repercussions of the Apple case. Law enforcement officials and their supporters argue that when armed with a valid court order, the cops should never be locked out of any device that might be important in an investigation. But if Apple is forced to break its own security to get inside a phone that it had promised users was inviolable, the supposed safety of the always-watching future starts to fall apart. If every device can monitor you, and if they can all be tapped by law enforcement officials under court order, can anyone ever have a truly private conversation? Are we building a world in which there’s no longer any room for keeping secrets?

Forget the 1st Amendment, Apple to plead the 5th in iPhone crypto flap

There's been ongoing dialogue about Apple's upcoming legal strategy in its battle with the government about whether it should be required to comport with a court order mandating that the Cupertino (CA) gadget maker assist the authorities in accessing a locked, encrypted iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino (CA) shooters. One legal angle that has largely been overlooked is the Fifth Amendment. One legal angle Apple is also expected to assert is that the Fifth Amendment protects it from having to comport with the order.

That's according to Apple sources familiar with its strategy. For the general public, the Fifth Amendment is best known for the privilege against compelled self-incrimination. It's the amendment invoked by Martin Shkreli, the Big Pharma bad boy who is at the center of a securities fraud investigation and is refusing to assist Congress in probing pharmaceutical prices. The idea here is that the government is conscripting Apple to build something that it doesn't want to do. That allegedly is a breach of its "substantive due process." The government is "conscripting a company's employees to become agents for the government," apparently. The doctrine of substantive due process, according to Cornell University School of Law, holds "that the 5th and 14th Amendments require all governmental intrusions into fundamental rights and liberties be fair and reasonable and in furtherance of a legitimate governmental interest."

A Search for Innovative Solutions that Inspire

Speaking recently to technologists who are creating new tools for diverse populations of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler urged them to remember: “Accessibility must be a first thought, not an afterthought.” That thought inspired an expanded focus on nominations for technology innovations that specifically address the telecommunications needs of people with cognitive disabilities for 2016’s Chairman’s Awards for Advancement in Accessibility.

Moreover, we have all seen how advances in accessibility make technology more useable for all people. Television captions, automatic door openers, sidewalk ramps, and adjustable vanity mirrors were designed with accessibility in mind, but are appreciated by all. We are certain that advances in telecommunication accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities will help every user of these technologies. We are encouraging technology designers and developers to share their solutions that focus on the telecommunication needs of people with differing functional requirements, using design principles that are mindful of users’ attention focus, problem-solving and comprehension issues to achieve accessibility in ways that are simple and clear, consistent, multi-modal and error-tolerant. Nominations for all Chairman’s AAA awards, including those for innovations that address people with cognitive disabilities, are due March 31.

Benton

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