National Telecommunications and Information Administration

The US. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking public comment on how developments related to “big data” impact the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

The NTIA has issued a Request for Comments on how issues raised by big data impact the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, the Obama Administration’s framework for privacy protections released in February 2012.

The most recent action was called for in the White House’s big data and privacy working group report on how big data is transforming the way we live and work. Counselor to the President John Podesta convened senior government officials, including US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, to conduct the wide-ranging review of big data and privacy, and the group presented its findings to President Obama on May 1.

Specifically, NTIA is seeking comment on:

• How the principles in the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights support innovations related to big data while also responding to potential privacy risks;
• Whether the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights should be clarified or modified to better accommodate the benefits or risks of big data;
• Whether a responsible use framework should be used to address the challenges posed by big data; and
• Mechanisms to best address the limits of the “notice and consent” model for privacy protection noted in the big data report.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is hosting the first of several workshops focused on community broadband as we explore ways to build on the momentum of our successful broadband grant programs and explore what comes next.

The 2009 Recovery Act included more than $7 billion to expand access to high-speed Internet services to close the digital divide and spark economic growth. Through our Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, NTIA invested about $4 billion of that in 230 projects across the country that have built critical network infrastructure, opened or upgraded public computer centers and established broadband adoption programs. And through our State Broadband Initiative Program, we invested another almost $300 million to help states collect broadband data for the National Broadband Map and expand their statewide broadband capacity.

These investments are now enabling one-to-one computing programs and replacing old-fashioned textbooks with engaging online instructional materials in North Carolina classrooms. They are allowing Arkansas physicians to remotely examine patients located hundreds of miles away in far-flung rural corners of the state. They are supporting digital literacy training in low-income Latino communities across California. And they are bringing 4G LTE wireless broadband service to parts of the Navajo Nation that previously lacked even basic landline phone service.

As of the end of 2013, our grantees had built or upgraded more than 112,000 miles of fiber -- enough to circle the earth four and a half times or get you halfway to the moon. They had connected more than 21,000 community anchor institutions, including about 8,000 K-12 schools, 1,300 libraries and 2,400 medical facilities. And they had established or upgraded 3,000 public computer centers and helped more than 600,000 households sign up for broadband.

At the same time, our State Broadband Initiative Program has supported more than 200 local broadband planning teams across the country. So the question now is: where do we go from here? It’s a question that affects communities across the nation that are investing in broadband to ensure they have the advanced telecommunications infrastructure – and tech-savvy citizenry -- needed to drive growth, attract new businesses and remain competitive in the 21st Century economy.

Through our broadband investments, we have witnessed the demonstrated need that community institutions have for broadband. And we know anchor institution demand for broadband is only continuing to skyrocket as telemedicine applications, one-to-one classroom computing, and streaming video become more commonplace in hospitals, schools, and libraries.

To date, our broadband grants have connected more than 21,000 community anchor institutions, including about 8,000 K-12 schools, 1,400 higher education campuses, more than 1,300 libraries, and 2,400 medical and healthcare providers. We’ve also invested in 3,000 new or improved public computer centers and brought online more than 600,000 broadband-subscribing households.

But let’s look past these metrics. We are compiling case studies and gathering information about the impact of these broadband grant projects across the country. And we are sharing the results.

We already released three library-focused reports that highlight the incredible work libraries are doing with their broadband awards. Now, I’d like to share with you four new case studies focusing on the benefits flowing from broadband investments in Arkansas; the Central Valley of California; West Virginia; and Tallahassee, Florida.

In 2010, as part of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded more than $450 million in matching grants to establish or upgrade public computer centers and initiate innovative broadband adoption programs in underserved communities.

Four years later, that investment has resulted in more than 3,000 new or improved public computer centers and produced 600,000 new household broadband subscriptions. These grants complement the $3.4 billion in infrastructure investments from NTIA that have enabled BTOP grant recipients to connect more than 21,000 community anchor institutions with ultra-fast broadband, including 2,400 medical and health care providers, more than 1,300 libraries, and 8,000 K-12 schools.

BTOP has provided a significant down-payment on President Obama’s ConnectED initiative to link all schools to high-speed Internet by 2018. Schools, libraries, and health care providers were pivotal in making this rapid expansion possible. These anchor institutions already had close ties to their communities, recognized the enormous benefits high-speed Internet affords, and possessed skilled staff to organize classes and broker learning resources.

At the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition annual conference, we released four more of the 15 case studies that detail the impact of the BTOP public computer center and sustainable broadband adoption awards. The case studies were conducted as part of an evaluation contract by independent research firm ASR Analytics. With this release a total of seven studies are available to the public. The institutions profiled in the case studies include community colleges, a historically black university, and two nonprofit organizations that work with K-12 schools, first responders, and health care providers.

The following is a snapshot of the projects featured in the reports and information on the impact they are having in their communities. All 15 ASR Analytics case studies report on five key impact areas of broadband adoption and use: Workforce and Economic Development; Education and Training; Healthcare; Quality of Life/Civic Engagement; and Digital Literacy.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration issues this Notice on behalf of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) as part of the annual process to seek expressions of interest from individuals who would like to serve on the FirstNet Board.

Four of the 12 appointments of non-permanent members to the FirstNet Board are expiring in August 2014.

NTIA issues this Notice to obtain expressions of interest in the event the Secretary must fill any vacancies arising on the Board. Expressions of interest will be accepted until May 23, 2014.

[Commentary] We head to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to attend NETmundial, a global meeting of governments, entrepreneurs, academics, Internet institutions, activists and users to discuss the future of Internet governance.

Over two days delegates will discuss and work toward developing a set of principles to guide international Internet governance activities in the future.

The United States will work with other delegations to expand the community of individuals, organizations, firms, and governments who are willing to put their faith in the proven multi-stakeholder system of cooperation and coordination; this system has enabled the unprecedented growth of the global Internet, which in turn has fueled economic development and innovation.

Along with most of the world’s Internet advocates and users, we believe that no one stakeholder or group of stakeholders, including governments, should have control over the operation or protocols of the Internet or the creativity, innovation, and freedom of expression that it enables. We are optimistic that NETmundial will make an important contribution to the positive evolution of the Internet and its governance and we support efforts at NETmundial and beyond to preserve an, open, inclusive, resilient, interoperable, and innovative global Internet.

[Daniel serves as Special Assistant to the President and White House Cybersecurity Coordinator; Strckling serves as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration; Ambassador Sepulveda serves as US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy at the US Department of State; Painter serves as Coordinator for Cyber Issues at the US Department of State; Busby serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor]

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration released the first three of 15 public computer center (PCC) and broadband adoption case studies.

These focus on the impact of grants in Delaware, Texas and Michigan.

The case studies were conducted for NTIA by an independent research firm, ASR Analytics, which analyzed the impact these PCCs are having in their local communities. What kinds of impact are these expanded libraries having in their communities?

The case studies, based on site visits, interviews, and publicly available data from the awardees’ quarterly reports to NTIA, tell a story of increased demand for library services that have helped the country continue to turn the corner on the economic recovery. The libraries are meeting an urgent need by giving people access to information and job skills they need to be competitive in a 21st century workplace.

Anthony Wilhelm addressed the Broadband Communities Summit and spoke about the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, or BTOP and the State Broadband Initiative (SBI)...

Investing in broadband is investing in your community’s economic future. In 2009, local officials in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in North Georgia were worried about what the future might bring in light of the economic crisis facing the country at the time, as well as the broader, long-term decline of the industrial economy. So when the BTOP was announced, local leaders like Bruce Abraham brought together the local college, economic development agencies and electric cooperatives to apply for funds to build the North Georgia Network (NGN).

Vice President Joe Biden visited a company called Impulse Manufacturing, a metal fabrication shop that produces customized metal machine components for Fortune 500 companies. Impulse was forced to make do with slow, spotty DSL service that sometimes could not even hold a connection. Ron Baysden, Impulse’s President at the time, told us that the lack of reliable high-speed Internet became an impediment to doing business.

Abraham proceeded to tell me about how the twelve counties comprising the new network are being transformed. Now that the 1,100-mile network is built and delivering high-speed Internet connections to more than 300 businesses, 42 schools, five college campuses, six libraries and dozens of other community anchor institutions, the region is more economically vibrant and more globally competitive.

But for every North Georgia that has successfully deployed broadband, thousands of communities remain at risk of being left behind in the digital economy. There is too much at stake to allow these gaps to remain. If we zoom out from the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the national and global level for a minute, we get a good perspective on why broadband is so critical for communities to participate in the digital economy.

• First, getting better, faster, cheaper and more ubiquitous broadband is good for employment.
• Second, broadband is good for businesses.
• Third, broadband is good for economic development in general.

As NTIA successfully winds down the BTOP program, we have been evaluating our strengths and considering what we can offer stakeholders like you. We are examining strategies to build on the $4 billion in BTOP investments across the country and help communities drive further economic development through the use of broadband.

At NTIA and the Department of Commerce, our work on Internet policy is guided by three simple principles:

1. We support the Internet as a platform for economic growth. In doing so, we focus both on increasing the number of Internet users as well as encouraging more intensive use by existing users.
2. We support the Internet as a platform for innovation. In doing so, we seek to develop policies that are flexible, creative and rapidly adaptable to fast-changing technology.
3. We view the “Internet” as our client, not any one set of stakeholders. In setting policy, we must balance the competing interests of users by focusing on what policies best support economic growth and innovation.

So how do we put these principles into practice? The two key concepts we apply in support of growth are maintaining and increasing the trust of users of the Internet and expanding the global reach of the Internet economy. To support innovation, we want to make sure policymaking is flexible and adaptable.

That is why we are such strong supporters of the multistakeholder model of Internet governance. The US government has been a vigorous supporter of the multistakeholder model of Internet governance from the start. However, we are not the only ones.

On March 14, NTIA announced the final phase of the privatization of the domain name system by asking ICANN to convene global stakeholders to develop a proposal to transition the current role played by NTIA in the coordination of the DNS. In making this announcement, we stated that the transition proposal must have broad community support and must address four principles:

1. Support and enhance the multistakeholder model;
2. Maintain the security, stability and resiliency of the Internet DNS;
3. Meet the needs and expectations of the global customers and partners of the IANA services; and
4. Maintain the openness of the Internet.