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  2. July 2016

July 2016

NTIA Provides Guidance to States Seeking Authority to Enter Into a Spectrum Lease with FirstNet, Receive Grant Funds

The US Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) issued a Public Notice outlining the alternative path states could take to connect to the First Responder Network Authority’s (FirstNet) nationwide public safety broadband network. The notice provides preliminary guidance on the rigorous process NTIA is developing to review applications for its State Alternative Plan Program (SAPP) from states seeking to deploy their own radio access networks (RAN), which are the facilities needed to connect first responders to the core of FirstNet’s broadband network.

The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 established FirstNet as an independent authority within NTIA and directed it to develop and deploy a nationwide public safety broadband network. The Act requires FirstNet to offer to build the RAN in each state, but it also gives states the option to assume the cost and responsibility of RANs on their own. The notice lays out NTIA’s initial views on the comprehensive, multi-step process outlined in the Act for a state seeking authorization to deploy a proposed alternative RAN. In order to operate its own RAN, a state will need to negotiate a spectrum capacity lease with FirstNet. In addition, the state may also apply to NTIA for grant funds for the construction of its RAN. The notice provides the preliminary criteria NTIA will use to evaluate such requests. The public is invited to submit comments on this notice by August 18, 2016.

CenturyLink Preps Usage-Based Broadband Trial

CenturyLink appears poised to join Internet service providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Mediacom Communications that are testing or have launched usage-based policies for residential broadband services. Per updated policy data, CenturyLink plans to kick off a usage-based billing trial in Yakima (WA) starting July 26, that will charge $50 for a bucket of 50 gigabytes per data when customers exceed their monthly limit.

According to CenturyLink's current data policy FAQ, customers will get a grace period, as they will not be charged for the first two months that they exceed their monthly usage cap. Customers who are subject to the test policy will receive an electronic “no charge” warning the first two times. During months that customers are not billed, they’ll receive online alerts when they approach 85% of their data plan.

GOP: President Obama is Biggest Threat to Internet Survival

Forget cybercriminals and rogue states: President Barack Obama is the biggest threat to a free and open Internet, at least according to the platform approved at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland (OH).

“The survival of the Internet as we know it is at risk,” the platform says in its "Protecting Internet Freedom" plank. “Its gravest peril originates in the White House, the current occupant of which has launched a campaign, both at home and internationally, to subjugate it to agents of government.” President Obama pushed for the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify Internet access as a Title II common-carrier service subject to some new regulations, which it did. It was a move Congressional Republicans fought and blamed on what they saw as the president’s intervention. They are also not happy with the Administration’s decision to move oversight of Internet domain names to a multistakeholder model.

The biggest tool at the conventions

[Commentary] Last time the Republican and Democratic National Conventions rolled around in 2012, live video coverage was almost exclusively the domain of news organizations. YouTube was the official digital live-streaming partner of the 2012 conventions, but neither Facebook nor Snapchat were doing video and Periscope didn’t even exist. The big innovation of the year was how digital and print outlets were using live streaming tools on their websites.

Four years later, the social media landscape has changed exponentially thanks to an explosion in social video on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. Now social platforms have set their sights on live streaming, and the 2016 conventions are shaping up to become a frenzied microcosm of the next era of live event coverage.

Chairman Wheeler Responds to Congress on Lifeline

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler sent letters to 25 Members of Congress on July 11, 2016, responding to their letter expressing concerns with the decision to limit the role of states in preventing waste, fraud and abuse within the Lifeline program.

The Members asserted it could be more efficient and cost effective to allow states to continue serving as the primary verifiers of applicant eligibility and the FCC should focus on working with the states to ensure they have the information needed to perform checks of eligibility. Chairman Wheeler said the Lifeline Order will allow states to continue to play an important role, and said states maintain their authority to designate Lifeline voice and high-cost ETCs within the state.

Wheeler Responds to New York Representatives on CAF Phase II Funds

Federal Communications Commission Tom Chairman Wheeler sent letters to 20 US House members from New York on July 11, 2016, in response to their May 18, 2016 letter, which supported the adoption of Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II auction rules that would ensure CAF funds originally allocated to New York are not diverted to other regions.

Chairman Wheeler said among the issues on which the FCC sought comment in the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking are ways the FCC can structure the CAF II auction to ensure an equitable distribution of funds to states like New York, where the price cap carrier declined to accept significant amounts of USF support.

Wheeler Responds to Congress on Broadband Customer Privacy Proposal

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Wheeler sent letters to House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), and Rep Michael Burgess (R-TX) on July 11, 2016, in response to their June 1, 2016 letter, which urged the FCC to reconsider its proposed privacy rules for broadband internet access service providers.

Chairman Wheeler said Congress has enacted sector-specific privacy protections in a variety of areas in which especially sensitive information is collected and stored, and the Commission has a long history of protecting consumer privacy of information carried by communications service providers. He said the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposes a path forward toward final rules for broadband Internet access service (BIAS) that will provide clear guidance to both BIAS providers and their customers, and include the Federal Trade Commission's core principles of transparency, choice and security.

Net Neutrality Win in the D.C. Circuit Court is a Win for the Arts

[Commentary] After more than six months of deliberation, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit released its opinion affirming the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 Open Internet Order. While the DC Circuit Court’s decision is important to all consumers, it is particularly relevant to the arts and culture sector. The creative community relies upon a free and open Internet in a number of ways. Artists turn to the Internet to display and distribute work, collaborate with other artists, seek inspiration, educate young artists, market events, fundraise, and access articles like this one. Here are three reasons the arts community should celebrate the network neutrality decision:

1) Artists harness the Internet to maximize audience reach.
2) The Internet is a tool for artists to promote their craft.
3) The open Internet enables the arts community to contribute to society.

Access to a free and open Internet is intrinsic to the liberation of artists. The arts community has very good reason to celebrate the court’s decision.

[Courtney Duffy is the Robert W. Deutsch Arts & Technology Policy Fellow at Public Knowledge]

Can Silicon Valley Really Do Anything to Stop Police Violence?

[Commentary] Many critics of Silicon Valley question whether the industry is really doing all it can to influence policy on this issue of [police violence]. “We know what it looks like when tech cares, and it doesn’t look like peace signs in the Uber app,” said Anil Dash, a tech entrepreneur and activist. Dash cited the example of FWD.us, the initiative for immigration reform led by tech executives like Zuckerberg. He also cited a colossal joint effort among websites like Tumblr and YouTube to stop two anti­piracy bills in 2011. The latter effort was able to persuade 10 million people to ask their representatives to protest the bills, which were ultimately killed. The tech industry knows how to lobby Washington on issues that affect its bottom line, but it limits its engagement with other issues to grandstanding. Or as Dash puts it, more bluntly: “Tech only cares about black people as consumers.”

Ultimately, what the tech industry really cares about is ushering in the future, but it conflates technological progress with societal progress. And perhaps all of us have come to rely too deeply on machinery and software to be our allies without wondering about the cost, the way technology doesn’t fix problems without creating new ones.

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