February 2016

BUDGET

PRESIDENT OBAMA SEEKS 35 PERCENT HIKE IN FEDERAL CYBER BUDGET TO BOOST DEFENSE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
President Barack Obama is seeking a 35 percent hike in cybersecurity funding in his final budget to boost the capability of the federal government to defend itself against cyberattacks. The proposed $19 billion request, which represents one of the largest increases ever sought in this area, comes as Congress and the public have witnessed an alarming series of intrusions in recent years against targets ranging from Target and Sony to the Pentagon and the Office of Personnel Management. The proposal, announced Feb 9 with the President’s 2017 budget request, is part of a larger package of initiatives the White House is calling the cybersecurity national action plan. “[The plan] is intended to go after the underlying causes of our cybersecurity challenges, not at the symptoms,” said Michael Daniel, the White House cybersecurity coordinator. The money would go toward replacing aging — in some cases decades-old — computer systems with new machines and software, hiring additional skilled personnel, and increasing capabilities at the Pentagon’s Cyber Command and the FBI as well as in civilian agencies such as OPM and the Department of Veterans Affairs, officials said. Some portion of the money will go to the classified cyber budget for intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency and the CIA, they said. About $3.1 billion of the pot will go to modernizing computer systems and to hire a new federal chief information security officer to direct these changes across the government.
benton.org/headlines/president-obama-seeks-35-percent-hike-federal-cyber-budget-boost-defense | Washington Post | nextgov
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THE PRESIDENT'S NATIONAL CYBERSECURITY PLAN
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Michael Daniel, Tony Scott, Ed Felten]
President Barack Obama has worked for more than seven years to aggressively and comprehensively confront the challenge of malicious cyber activity. So Feb 9, he is directing the Administration to implement a Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) -- the capstone of our national cybersecurity efforts. CNAP puts in place a long-term strategy to ensure the federal government, the private sector, and American citizens can take better control of our digital security. Here’s a brief look at what it does:
Establishes a Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity that will bring top strategic, business, and technical thinkers from outside the government to make critical recommendations on how we can use new technical solutions and best practices to protect our privacy and public safety.
Transforms how the government will manage cybersecurity through the proposal of a $3.1 billion Information Technology Modernization Fund and a new Federal Chief Information Security Officer to help retire, replace, and modernize legacy IT across the government.
Empowers Americans to secure their online accounts by using additional security tools – like multi-factor authentication and other identity processing steps – and by working with Google, Facebook, DropBox, Microsoft, Visa, PayPal, and Venmo to secure online accounts and financial transactions.
Invests more than $19 billion for cybersecurity as part of the President’s budget – a more than 35 percent increase from 2015’s request to secure our nation in the future.
benton.org/headlines/presidents-national-cybersecurity-plan-what-you-need-know | White House, The | WH Fact Sheet | Executive Order | Executive Order
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WH BUDGET WOULD FUND COMPUTER SCIENCE, OTHER TECH PRIORITIES
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Mario Trujillo]
President Barack Obama’s $4 billion plan to help fund computer science classes in schools calls for $40 million in funding in 2017, with yearly spending quickly escalating for the next five years. The Computer Science for All plan, unveiled in Jan, calls for federal funding for states to offer coding classes for students in kindergarten through high school. Funding for the program was included in President Obama's overall $4.1 trillion budget proposal released Feb 9. The aim is to train a quarter million teachers, upgrade infrastructure and provide online courses. It would rely partly on partnerships with private industry. In 2018, President Obama’s budget calls for mandatory funding for the program to rise to $720 million. Spending would increase above $1 billion in each 2019 and 2020. Spending would be $660 million in 2021 and $280 million in 2022. The program also calls for $100 million is discretionary funding for schools to expand computer science classes for girls and minorities. The budget also calls for funding for 25 agencies to develop digital service teams, which are meant to place tech talent throughout the government. The budget also factors in an estimated $5 billion in savings over the next decade by having the Federal Communications Commission enact spectrum license user fees and allowing the FCC to auction satellite services.
benton.org/headlines/white-house-budget-would-fund-computer-science-other-tech-priorities | Hill, The | Washington Post
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

NTIA UPDATES $4B BROADBAND STIMULUS PROGRAM RESULTS
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Joan Engebretson]
The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is winding towards a close, according to the latest quarterly update from National Telecommunications & Information Administration, which highlights broadband stimulus program results. The report dated October 2015 but only released publicly during the week of Feb 1, provides a summary of what the BTOP program had accomplished as of June 2015. In 2009 and 2010, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which administered the BTOP program, awarded approximately $4 billion to 233 BTOP projects. Those projects focused on four areas:
$3.5 billion to 123 infrastructure projects (primarily middle-mile)
$251 million to 44 sustainable broadband adoption (SBA) programs
$201 million to 66 public computing center (PCC) projects
The NTIA also was responsible for awarding $293 million to 56 state broadband initiative (SBI) projects, which were focused on collecting information for the National Broadband Map.
benton.org/headlines/ntia-updates-4-billion-broadband-stimulus-program-results | telecompetitor
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

CHAIRMAN THUNE SIGNALS RETURN OF MOBILE NOW ACT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) says that, in concert with Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL), he is putting the finishing touches on his bill to boost development of 5G wireless broadband service at potentially multiple-gigabit speeds in competition to cable broadband. Speaking at a CTIA 5G conference, Chairman Thune said that he has been working on a new draft of the MOBILE NOW (Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless) Act, which he hoped to be able to introduce later during the week of Feb 8. The bill has been in the works for a while but was pulled from a planned markup last fall. He said the bill would "insure that hundreds of megahertz of spectrum would be made available for commercial use by 2020," which he pointed out was about the same time the 5G standard could be rolled out. He said the bill would "cut through much of the bureaucratic red tape that makes it difficult to build wireless facilities on federal properties." It would also "direct the Federal Communications Commission to streamline regulations affecting small-cell networks." Chairman Thune said that perhaps most importantly, the bill would push the FCC to examine millimeter wave (high-frequency bands) to determine which are most useful for 5G. He said those would be the most critical for delivering the multi-gigabit high speed broadband service.
benton.org/headlines/chairman-thune-signals-return-mobile-now-act | Broadcasting&Cable
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FIVE IDEAS FOR THE ROAD TO 5G
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel]
Here are my five ideas for the road to 5G:
1) To find spectrum for next generation networks we need to look high: the 5G future will look different [from 4G]—very different. We will need to bust through the old 3 GHz ceiling and create new possibilities for millimeter wave spectrum—in the airwaves at 24 GHz and above. This is spectrum that is way, way up there.
2) When we look high for new spectrum, we cannot forget that we also need to look low: while we explore the big possibilities of millimeter wave, we need to continue to look for opportunities
below 3 GHz.
3) To build a bigger wireless future, we need to focus as much on the ground as on the skies: We can begin by taking a comprehensive look at tower siting practices and make them
more consistent across the country.
4) If we want a bold wireless future, we need a better way to manage our balance sheets: When auction values are not right, relocation costs are wrong, or assumptions are built into the baseline that don’t reflect what is happening—we have a problem.
5) We need sandboxes for cities—and more experimental licenses: 5G technology will have applications everywhere—in rural areas, urban areas, and everything in between. But these applications hold special promise in our cities. That’s because 5G will bring high speed, low latency technology to densely populated areas, opening up a whole new range of civic and commercial services.
benton.org/headlines/five-ideas-road-5g | Federal Communications Commission
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TELECOM ACT

THE ’96 ACT AND THE INTERNET: THE MYTH OF THE CONSENSUS LIGHT-TOUCH
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Law Journal, AUTHOR: Blair Levin]
[Commentary] Many hold the common but mistaken view that the successful Clintonera telecommunications/Internet policies reflected a bipartisan consensus that light-touch regulation was all that was necessary for the Internet to thrive. True, communications policy was more bipartisan in those days. That derived, however, not from a lack of controversy but from how that era’s
great policy divide—between Local and the Long-Distance Phone Companies—had advocates on both sides of the aisle. The bigger error, however, lies in the myth that all the Internet needed
was the benign neglect of the government. A more accurate assessment is that the nascent Internet needed government assistance, just as did the nascent broadcast industry (with spectrum allocations and various protections for local broadcasters), the nascent cable industry (with mandated access to broadcast programming and pole attachment rights), and the nascent direct broadcast satellite industry (with spectrum and cable program access rights) all required in their early stages.
[Blair Levin is a nonresident senior fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution]
benton.org/headlines/96-act-and-internet-myth-consensus-light-touch | Federal Communications Law Journal
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February 2016

With New Google Fiber 100 Mbps Tier, Google Hedges on Gigabit

Comcast begs Atlanta customers not to switch to Google Fiber: touts more on-demand video, voice remote; leaves out price and data caps

Joan Marsh: Final Thought on the Incentive Auction

The only way to report on something as powerful as technology is to take a critical look, not at its superficial utility, but at its relationship with the end user and everyone else

Watch comedian Chelsea Peretti tear Silicon Valley a new one

Remarks by the President on New Cybersecurity Initiatives (President Obama)

February 10, 2016 (The Budget)

Telecom Act At 20: Forgotten Origin Story For Facebook, Google, Netflix?

The 1934 Act Regulates Telecommunications

Third-party cable boxes won’t be allowed to spy on you (too much), FCC vows