press release

The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet will hold a hearing on June 5 titled “.”

The Subcommittee will examine the public safety implications of the ongoing evolution of the nation’s communications networks and how best to preserve consumer access to those networks and vital life-saving information during and after emergency situations. The hearing will be webcast live via the Senate Commerce Committee website.

The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep Greg Walden (R-OR), has scheduled a hearing for June 11, 2014. The hearing is entitled “Media Ownership in the 21st Century.”

Witnesses to be announced.

Members will examine the media ownership landscape as it continues to evolve in the digital age. The subcommittee is expected to discuss the Federal Communications Commission’s inaction on the statutorily required 2010 quadrennial review of the media ownership rules as well as the continued relevance of the media ownership regulatory framework in general. Further, members will explore the commission’s decision to forge ahead with new rules on joint sales agreements (JSAs) and other media ownership changes without the completed quadrennial review.

“As the communications and technology sectors continue to innovate, it is imperative that our laws that govern media ownership evolve,” said Rep Walden. “I look forward to a spirited discussion of the media ownership landscape and expect it to inform the work we do on our update of the Communications Act.”

The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration announced that seven aerial photo and video production companies have asked for regulatory exemptions that would allow the film and television industry to use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) with FAA approval for the first time.

If the exemption requests are granted, there could be tangible economic benefits as the agency begins to address the demand for commercial UAS operations.

However, all the associated safety issues must be carefully considered to make sure any hazards are appropriately mitigated.

The petitioner must still obtain operational approval from the FAA. The Motion Picture Association of America facilitated the exemption requests on behalf of their membership.

The firms that filed the petitions are all independent aerial cinematography professionals who collectively developed the exemption requests as a requirement to satisfy the safety and public interest concerns of the FAA, MPAA and the public at large. The firms are asking the agency to grant exemptions from regulations that address general flight rules, pilot certificate requirements, manuals, maintenance and equipment mandates.

They are also asking for relief from airworthiness certification requirements as allowed under Section 333. Under that section of the law, certain airworthiness requirements can be waived to let specific UAS fly safely in narrowly-defined, controlled, low-risk situations.

To receive the exemptions, the firms must show that their UAS operations will not adversely affect safety, or provide at least an equal level of safety to the rules from which they seek the exemption. They would also need to show why granting the exemption would be in the public interest.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to implement the Broadcast Television Incentive Auction. The two-sided auction will use market forces to recover spectrum from television broadcasters who voluntarily choose to give up some or all of their spectrum usage rights in exchange for incentive payments, in order to auction new spectrum licenses to wireless providers.

The Incentive Auction will help meet consumers’ skyrocketing demand for mobile broadband services.

Across the country, in both rural and urban areas, consumers and businesses expect to have access to wireless connectivity anywhere, anytime. Today, there are more connected devices than there are people in the US, and about 60 percent of Americans use data-hungry smartphones. By making more spectrum available for mobile broadband use, the Incentive Auction will benefit consumers by easing congestion on wireless networks, expediting the development of new, more robust wireless services and applications and helping fill in coverage gaps particularly in rural America.

Broadcasters that choose to participate in the auction will bid to receive some of the proceeds from auctioning that spectrum to wireless providers. The auction is a once in a lifetime opportunity for broadcasters, but the decision of whether or not to participate is entirely voluntary.

The adopted rules establish the foundation for the incentive auction. Based on these rules the FCC will develop and seek additional public input on detailed, final auction procedures in the pre-auction process.

There are four parts to the rules implementing the Incentive Auction:

1. The reorganized 600 MHz Band, including repacking and unlicensed operations;
2. The Incentive Auction process and design;
3. The post-auction transition for all incumbents in the 600 MHz band; and
4. Post-transition regulatory issues, including channel sharing.

Specifically, the report and order addresses the 600 MHz band plan, incentive auction design, post-auction transition, and post-auction regulatory issues.

Twenty-four major federal agencies did not consistently demonstrate that they are effectively responding to cyber incidents (a security breach of a computerized system and information).

Based on a statistical sample of cyber incidents reported in fiscal year 2012, Government Accountability Office projects that these agencies did not completely document actions taken in response to detected incidents in about 65 percent of cases (with 95 percent confidence that the estimate falls between 58 and 72 percent).

The Department of Homeland Security and a component, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), offer services that assist agencies in preparing to handle cyber incidents, maintain awareness of the current threat environment, and deal with ongoing incidents.

Officials from the 24 agencies GAO surveyed said that they were generally satisfied with the assistance provided, and made suggestions to make the services more useful, such as improving reporting requirements. Although US-CERT receives feedback from agencies to improve its services, it has not yet developed performance measures for evaluating the effectiveness of the assistance it provides to agencies.

Without results-oriented performance measures, US-CERT will face challenges in ensuring it is effectively assisting federal agencies with preparing for and responding to cyber incidents.

GAO conducted this study because the number of cyber incidents reported by federal agencies increased in fiscal year 2013 significantly over the prior 3 years. GAO was asked to review federal agencies' ability to respond to cyber incidents.

To do this, GAO reviewed the extent to which (1) federal agencies are effectively responding to cyber incidents and (2) DHS is providing cybersecurity incident assistance to agencies. GAO also examined DHS and US-CERT policies, procedures, and practices, and surveyed officials from the 24 federal agencies on their experience receiving incident assistance from DHS.

GAO is making recommendations to OMB and DHS to address incident response practices governmentwide, particularly in CyberStat meetings with agencies; to the heads of six agencies to strengthen their incident response policies, plans, and procedures; and to DHS to establish measures of effectiveness for the assistance US-CERT provides to agencies. The agencies generally concurred with GAO's recommendations.

Today, traditional TV still accounts for the lion’s share of video viewing, and will likely continue to do so for a good while, but online and mobile are where the growth is.

From fourth quarter 2012 to fourth-quarter 2013, the hours consumers spent watching online video grew 30 percent. When managed together, TV and digital hold the potential to drive real impact for advertisers -- enabling them to maximize the customers they reach and/or reinforce key messaging across screens.

Not surprisingly, advertisers believe the integration of campaigns across multiple screens is important and will become even more so, but the effectiveness of these campaigns in maximizing results has been mixed. On average, these integrated campaigns reached only 7.6 percent of the intended audience via both TV and online. That result is little different than the completely random duplication (7.0 percent) that advertisers could expect if they had planned their campaign for each screen independently.

This highlights a true missed opportunity. Nielsen research shows that, with careful planning and execution based on more precise identification of their desired TV and online audiences, marketers can generate an average of 8 percent greater reach, or achieve significantly higher frequency, without spending more money or altering their mix of spend.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler regarding the commission’s work on the spectrum provisions included in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.

Among those provisions is the requirement that the FCC work with stakeholders to streamline the approval process for upgrading existing wireless facilities. The committee leaders are writing seeking clarity on the rulemaking process and urging the chairman to act in a way that will accomplish the goals of the statute.

In the letter to Chairman Wheeler, Reps Upton and Walden wrote, “We urge you to take swift action to clarify the terms of Section 6409(a) consistent with the intent of the statute to deliver the benefits of wireless broadband access to all Americans. To ensure that 6409(a) achieves its goal of streamlining the approval of eligible facilities requests the commission should adopt rules that provide consistency for applicants and reviewing authorities alike.” The leaders also expressed the urgency for the commission to identify ways to foster broadband infrastructure deployment.

Verizon filed a response to opposition filed for our copper retirement in Ocean View (VA) and Belle Harbor (NY). As of April 2014, fewer than forty of Verizon’s customers in Ocean View and Belle Harbor remained on copper facilities.

Customers in these two wire centers -- which cover more than 15,000 homes -- have already overwhelmingly made the decision to move to either Verizon’s fiber-based services or to competitors. Completing the migration to Verizon’s more advanced and reliable fiber facilities, and retiring the legacy copper loops and the switches in these wire centers, is not just a logical and efficient step, but it is also an incremental one.

There has been no valid objection to the copper retirement filed by customers living or working in these areas or by providers serving them, and no request for an extension of time made. The claims raised by the very few commenters (none of which is specific to these two wire centers) have no merit under the circumstances here. Most of the customers remaining on copper-based services in these two wire centers today are purchasing plain old telephone service, or POTS.

Following copper retirement, they will continue to receive the same traditional POTS service over fiber on the same terms and conditions and at the same or better price as they received over copper. There is no change in the underlying features and functionalities in their service: voice mail, collect calling, and other features will continue to work just as they did over copper; customers will continue to be able to use fax machines, medical monitoring devices, and home alarms; and accessibility services -- such as relay services used by customers who are deaf or hard of hearing -- also will continue to work as before. There will be no change to customers’ ability to call 911: public safety answering points will receive the same E911 information as before.

New research released by Connect Minnesota shows that statewide, 74.93% of Minnesota households have access to fixed broadband at a minimum of 10 Mbps download/6 Mbps upload. However, the data show only 57.07% in rural areas have access at that speed. The data show availability increases since last October in all speed tiers reported by Connect Minnesota as part of the State Broadband Initiative program.

• 74.93% of Minnesota households can access fixed broadband at speeds of at least 10 Mbps download/6 Mbps upload -- the minimum speed threshold for Minnesota’s goal of ubiquitous broadband availability; when mobile broadband is included, 82.78% of households have access at the state’s speed goal* (excludes satellite). However, only 57.07% of rural households can access these broadband speeds (62.70% including mobile), illustrating the gap in Minnesota rural broadband availability.
• 89.27% of Minnesota households can access broadband at speeds of at least 10 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload (excludes mobile and satellite services); when including mobile, the percentage increases to 99.51% availability at this speed tier. However, only 75.99% of rural households can access these broadband speeds (excluding mobile and satellite services), indicating a disparity between the urban and rural broadband landscape in the state; when including mobile, rural availability jumps to 98.85%.
• 96.66% of Minnesota households can access fixed broadband at speeds of at least 3 Mbps download/768 Kbps upload – the speed threshold used by the FCC in making Connect America Fund determinations; if mobile is included, 99.89% of households have access at this speed tier (excludes satellite). Fixed broadband availability at these speeds decreases to 92.36% when examining just rural households; if mobile is included, 99.73% have access (excludes satellite).
• Broadband at higher download speeds is now available to more households; 50 Mbps download/1.5 Mbps upload is available to 81.36% and 100 Mbps download/1.5 Mbps upload is available to 79.78% of Minnesota households (excludes mobile and satellite services).

A bipartisan group of national security and foreign intelligence experts, including a former judge who served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, is urging the creation of a special advocate to protect the public's rights before the secretive terrorism review panel when the Senate takes up surveillance reform legislation.

A report released by The Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Committee calls on Congress to create "meaningful adversarial participation" before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISC, including a security-cleared special advocate with a specific mandate to represent the public's privacy and civil liberties interests whenever the government seeks broad surveillance authority.

The new report suggests any effort by Congress to provide for more meaningful adversarial participation before the FISC should give the special advocate an unconditional right to participate in any case in which the FISC is asked to approve non-individual surveillance authorizations, including any production orders under section 215 of the USA Patriot Act or directives under section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. The special advocate should also be empowered to represent all US persons who are subject to the broad surveillance orders, and should have the authority to litigate on their behalf.