Benton RSS Feed

The House Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a hearing on House Joint Resolution 37, an effort to disallow the Federal Communications Commission's new network neutrality/Open Internet regulations.

Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) introduced the resolution under the Congressional Review Act, which provides Congress with an expedited process to nullify agency rules. The resolution only requires a simple majority in each chamber, and is filibuster proof in the Senate. Because the form of the resolution is provided for in statute, it is not subject to amendment. Chairman Walden said the FCC is attempting to regulate the Internet without statutory authority to do so: "it’s important to realize that the FCC’s underlying theory of authority would allow the commission to regulate any interstate communication service on barely more than a whim and without any additional input from Congress. I do not want to cede such authority to the FCC."

House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) urged his colleagues to nullify the FCC’s attempt to regulate the Internet. He said, "If the FCC had taken this approach for the last year, we might not have needed this resolution today. The reality is, if the FCC was truly weighing the costs and benefits of its actions, the agency would not be attempting to regulate the Internet." He noted that there is no crisis warranting the regulations -- the Internet is open, it is not broken, and the market has not failed. He went on to say that if the FCC's logic was followed "the agency would ultimately be regulating Google and any number of other Internet companies."

Democrats called Republican efforts to overturn the FCC's net neutrality rules destructive and said the GOP-backed resolution of disapproval isn't based on facts.

Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman (D-CA) said that Justice Department officials do not believe they have the authority to enforce network neutrality principles under antitrust law. "According to DoJ, favoring websites that pay high fees and degrading websites that don't is perfectly legal under the antitrust laws as long as the phone or cable company isn't in direct competition with the websites being degraded," Rep Waxman said. Network neutrality opponents often argue that antitrust laws make it unnecessary to have regulations enforced by the FCC. The House Judiciary Committee explored the issue this year. Intellectual Property subcommittee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) said he is considering legislation to tweak antirust law to address net neutrality concerns.

Ranking subcommittee member Anna Eshoo (D-CA), whose district includes numerous content and app companies pushing for network neutrality regulations, also pointed out that stakeholders like the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and AT&T do not see the regulations as menacing. She also pointed to what she said was a flood of letters from religious leaders, consumer groups and high tech associations opposing the resolution to block the regulations. She warned that the resolution would create uncertainty about FCC authority beyond the order itself, and could affect its ability to promote pubic safety and protect against online privacy violations and piracy. She said the rules were necessary to prevent blocking access and unreasonable discrimination and consumers and businesses being told what sources of content they can access.

Robin Chase, founder and former CEO of Zipcar said that the FCC's application of different rules to wireless and wired broadband was "nonsense," and that Congress should strengthen the FCC's network neutrality rules, not try to invalidate them.

Cutting funding for public broadcasting would kill jobs in small communities across the country, according to Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) founder and co-chairman of the Congressional Public Broadcasting Caucus.

"Not only do our local public broadcasting stations provide us with valuable information, but they also directly support 21,000 jobs in hundreds of communities across America," Rep Blumenauer said. "These jobs would be at risk if small stations that rely on federal funding were forced to close their doors." His statement came one day after a video of NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller mocking Tea Party activists prompted Republicans to again push for the elimination of federal subsidies for public broadcasting.

The folks hawking mobile DTV have selected cipher that will enable subscription services. The Open Mobile Video Coalition tapped the UltraViolet digital rights locker maintained by Neustar, which provides a buy-once, play anywhere scheme for end users. One of the main reasons mobile DTV proponents say it will thrive in a crowded market is free access, but the business model is shaping up to provide for at least some level of pay service.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced E-rate funding for 20 schools and libraries at a digital roundtable discussion held at the iSchool in New York City with the NYC Department of Education.

The 2011 "Learning On-The-Go" wireless pilot program will help K-12 students' connect to the Internet at home and increase their access to digital textbooks, cutting-edge interactive learning tools and other innovative wireless technologies.

The wireless pilot projects builds on the FCC's major modernization of the E-rate program as a result of National Broadband Plan recommendations by supporting off-campus mobile Internet connections for students. Previously, the E-rate program supported on-campus connectivity only. According to a 2010 E-rate survey, approximately 50 percent of the schools and libraries that responded indicated that they plan to implement or expand the use of digital textbooks and other wireless devices for digital learning. The FCC aims to increase the percentage of schools and libraries across the country using mobile broadband. Mobile learning devices enable teachers and parents to tailor school curriculum and interactive learning to students' skill sets. Digital textbooks never go out of date and students will have greater opportunities to access the latest educational curriculum available. New wireless devices and applications will also help teacher integrate school and home work assignments for students, creating greater efficiency. Qualified pilot programs will be funded in the 2011-12 school year, assuming compliance with all other program requirements.

The following 2011 “Learning On-The-Go” wireless pilot projects have been selected by the FCC:

1. Aurora Public Schools/APS Online (Aurora, CO)
APS Online is a hybrid online school, meaning the online learning experience is enhanced through focused classroom instruction, with an emphasis on high school students with a variety of socioeconomic challenges (medical challenges, drop-outs or the homeless), many of whom would not still be in school if not for the flexibility to receive instruction from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
2. Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter (Philadelphia, PA)
This college prep high school for boys from low-income households has a program that allows sophomores to access the Internet through wireless mobile cards. The program supports both core subjects and its technology curriculum.

3. City School District of New Rochelle (New Rochelle, NY)
This laptop program targets certain student groups (English language learners, economically disadvantaged students, lower-performing students, and students with disabilities) in 5th through 9th grade. One part of the curriculum’s objective is to enable students to access digital textbooks via wireless connectivity.

4. Clay Hill Elementary School (Jacksonville, FL)
The district currently has two pilots in progress for Internet access for its students: (1) the Leveraging Technology Initiative, a movement toward 1:1 computing by allowing students to bring their own devices (such as laptop computers, netbooks, tablets, and smartphones) on campus; and (2) the Digital Equity Initiative that addresses devices for low-income students.

5. Foxfire Center for Student Success (Zanesville, OH)
This program uses netbooks to expand the availability of mobile technology to its at-risk secondary students beyond the school day through an interactive educational platform that provides teachers the ability to upload assignments and videos, and provide graphic organizers, guided notes, and assessments.

6. Greater Southern Tier Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) (Watkins Glen, NY)
GST BOCES is an Educational Service Agency that supports 21 component districts in five counties across the Southern Tier of New York State. Its Mobile Learning Device Project will provide middle and high school students with ubiquitous access to online learning devices (such as, smartphones and netbooks) utilizing a virtual classroom software program.

7. Haralson County Board of Education/Haralson County High School (Buchanan, GA)
This blended learning opportunity program integrates face-to-face learning with online learning opportunities for high school students through the use of netbooks, with an emphasis on achievement in math and science.

8. Katy Independent School District (Katy, TX)
This program is designed to provide all 5th graders and teachers within the district with smartphones utilizing a classroom management system. The system allows teachers to create and upload assignments to a server where students then can log-in and sync their device to receive the teacher’s updates.

9. Michigan Technical Academy (Redford, MI)
This netbook program utilizes an online mobile learning environment for its 5th through 8th graders with an emphasis on increasing educational productivity and proficiency with mobile learning devices, and to increase math, science, social studies, and English language arts proficiency with the use of technology.

10. Mohican School in the Out-of-Doors, Inc. (Butler, OH)
This is an outdoor environmental education school. The school proposes to use the funds to expand and strengthen environmental mobile learning for its students in grades 5th and 6th via the implementation of learning green tech mobile learning program, enabling computer based instruction to students using handheld devices (such as netbooks, smartphones) in the field. For example, instead of simply reading about the parts of the flower, students will take pictures of the parts and transmit them via the wireless network.
11. Onslow County Schools (Jacksonville, NC)
This program is intended to provide smartphones to high school students utilizing Project K-Nect targeted for use with Algebra I. Project K-Nect was designed to create resources for secondary at-risk students with a goal of increasing their math and science skills.

12. Orleans Parish School Board/Mary Bethune Elementary School (New Orleans, LA)
This is a laptop program with broadband access through wireless data cards for 3rd through 6th grade elementary students. The software suite enables teachers to determine students’ level of proficiency and engages a set of applications to empower the students with a digital learning environment.

13. Piedmont City School District (Piedmont, AL)
The Piedmont City School System became the first school system in Alabama to implement a one-to-one laptop initiative, called MPower Piedmont. All laptops provide software and access to Internet resources for research, communication, multimedia content creation, and collaboration for use inside and outside of school.

14. Riverside Unified School District (Riverside, CA)
This program utilizes netbooks, tablets, and laptops for its middle school students at four schools. About 70% of students residing in Riverside have access to free wireless connectivity and low-income students can obtain a free refurbished computer for home use through a digital inclusion training program. Riverside USD uses a cloud-based learning and content management system, which provides a blended learning environment so students and teachers can continue discussions and learning beyond the school walls and times. Riverside USD also collaborates with partners, such as textbook publishers, to provide content in a digital format to students.

15. Roy Municipal Schools (Roy, NM)
This netbook program provides elementary and secondary students in an extremely rural area with off-premise Internet access to allow for interactive capabilities outside the classroom and beyond scheduled school hours.

16. San Diego Unified School District (San Diego, CA)
The District has established a Mobile Learning Program to seamlessly integrate ubiquitous, one-to-one computing and other 21st century technology into all teaching and learning throughout the curriculum. Its program will serve 6th grade in eight middle schools and school-wide in two middle schools.

17. Sioux City Community School District (Sioux City, IA)
This netbook program will provide wireless connectivity for 10th through 12th grade students across three high schools through blended instruction in its learning management system. This allows the district to extend the time and place of the classroom to virtually anytime and anywhere when coupled with offsite wireless access.

18. Southern Tier Library System (Painted Post, NY)
The intent is to include handheld mobile devices, such as tablets, netbooks and smartphones as training platforms for its mobile JobLink project which provides online job searching, resume writing, job application skills, and digital literacy to unemployed and under employed individuals within a 3,500 square mile rural service area. The JobLink project would expand that training by providing wireless Internet access on handheld mobile devices.

19. Summit Academy Community School for Alternative Learners (Canton, OH)
Students enrolled at this school are on individualized learning plans and have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Aspergers’ Disorder, which makes learning a challenge in a traditional classroom environment. This program utilizes smartphones as a portal to the curriculum, study materials, and a collaboration environment that positions students to be more effective communicators and problem solvers.

20. Westwood Community Schools/Cyber High School (Dearborn Heights, MI)
This program will use mobile devices and/or desktop computers with wireless mobile cards along with a comprehensive online learning environment that offers a virtual educational experience for high school students who are unable to attend school for a variety of reasons.