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June 2009

AT&T Under Pressure To Cut Price Tag On IPhone's Data Plan

With pricing in the smartphone race heating up, AT&T has been slow to shift gears. The telecommunications giant has stubbornly kept unchanged the pricey data plans required for the Apple iPhone - a chief complaint and impediment for consumers. The decision to hold pat comes as the industry increasingly addresses the downturn in consumer spending with lower priced service plans and phones. AT&T wireless chief Ralph de la Vega said last month that the company was considering a lower tier. Any such plan likely would include limits on how long users could surf the Web or how many programs they can download over the air. But AT&T is reluctant to offer a cheaper plan because it would lose a rich source of revenue used to offset the subsidies it pays Apple to keep the iPhone at the $200 level, as well as the cost of delivering that service. AT&T has to balance the growing number of iPhone users with the amount of traffic they take up in the network.

The Big Hate

[Commentary] Today, as in the early years of the Clinton Administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment. Now, for the most part, the likes of Fox News and the RNC haven't directly incited violence, despite Bill O'Reilly's declarations that "some" called Dr. Tiller "Tiller the Baby Killer," that he had "blood on his hands," and that he was a "guy operating a death mill." But they have gone out of their way to provide a platform for conspiracy theories and apocalyptic rhetoric, just as they did the last time a Democrat held the White House. And at this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.

Global PC makers vying for "Green" crown

Personal computer makers are increasingly prioritizing "green" strategies, creating a pivotal point of competition for customers that are becoming more attuned to their financial -- and societal -- benefits. Analysts say going green has become a business plan unto itself for the industry's heavyweights: a way to stand apart from rivals, win over a growing segment of environmentally conscious consumers, and shore up branding worldwide. The three major US computer vendors -- Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Apple -- argue that customers glean real benefits, for example lower power consumption in green-certified display screens.

June 12, 2009 (National DTV Day)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY JUNE 12, 2009

Two big events next week: the confirmation hearing for FCC Chairman Genachowski and FCC Commissioner McDowell; and the Broadband Policy Summit. http://www.benton.org/calendar/2009-06-14--P1W

Follow us on Twitter @benton_fdn


BROADBAND
   Study: Internet economy has created 1.2M jobs
   Consumer Groups See Universal Service as Central Goal and Tool in National Broadband Plan
   Essential Building-Blocks For Universal High-Speed Broadband
   Microsoft's 4 strategies for ubiquitous, affordable, ever-improving broadband
   FTTH Council Tells FCC that U.S. Has "Rare Opportunity" to Advance to All-Fiber Broadband

CYBERSECURITY
   Gov't Needs to Spend More on Cyber R&D
   Cybersecurity tops priorities for DHS' research and development arm
   Cell phones, other wireless devices next big cybersecurity targets

BROADCASTING
   Engineers Forecast Smooth Sailing for Analog Shutoff
   Nielsen: 70.5% of Households "Unready" in November Acquired Converter Boxes
   Markey Says Push For Digital Standard Was Game-Changer
   New NAB Leadership

MORE ONLINE
   Bad text messaging, e-mailing manners can be costly
   Tiller Killing Dominates Blogosphere
   Army Orders Bases to Stop Blocking Twitter, Facebook, Flickr
   If Geoff Daily Ran AT&T... He'd Be Worried
   Political Cues in China Web Filter
   Tax Man's Target: The Mobile Phone
   Spending Stimulus Money Takes Money

Recent Comments on:
Groups urge FCC to treat broadband as telecom service

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BROADBAND


STUDY: INTERNET ECONOMY CREATED 1.2M JOBS
[SOURCE: ComputerWorld, AUTHOR: Patrick Thibodeau]
Over the last decade or so the Internet has created 1.2 million jobs, many paying higher salaries than average, a new study finds. Internet business contributes 2.1%, or $300 billion, to the total GDP (gross domestic product) of the U.S. And IT and related online business may be faring better in this recession than they did in the dotcom bubble of 2000-2002, still growing revenue but at slower pace. Consumers are now making 10% of their retail purchases online, with the exception of groceries, on the Internet, and Internet-based advertising has increased four-fold since 2002 to more than $20 billion, said John Deighton, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and one of the authors of the study along with Hamilton Consultants.
http://benton.org/node/25897
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CONSUMER GROUPS SEE UNIVERSAL SERVICE AS CENTRAL GOAL AND TOOL IN NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, AUTHOR: Mark Cooper, Joel Kelsey]
CFA and CU argue that the Federal Communications Commission should focus its national broadband plan on the achievement of the central goal of the Communications Act ­ universal service. Attention should be focused on activating the policy tool it has to directly promote progress toward that goal. The CFA and CU are concerned that the broad and scatter shot nature of the FCC's proceeding will carry the Commission into a morass of regulation and litigation that will slow progress down, when there is a clear need and clear authority to implement universal service policies that can have an immediate impact on solving the problem. They argue that the FCC must get back to basics and define broadband as Title II service eligible for universal service support as the means to ensure that all people of the United States have adequate facilities at charges that are just, reasonable, affordable and nondiscriminatory. The Commission should adopt an experiential approach to defining broadband, with any technology capable of supporting the range of activities in which broadband users engage being eligible for
support with universal service funds.
http://benton.org/node/25901
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ESSENTIAL BUILDING-BLOCKS FOR UNIVERSAL HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND
[SOURCE: New America Foundation, AUTHOR: ]
The Wireless Future Program of the New America Foundation filed comments on Monday regarding the Federal Communications Commission's development of a national broadband plan. NAF believes that a national effort to invest in the essential fiber infrastructures that interconnect all broadband networks and are essential to high-capacity connections, along with innovative 21st century spectrum polices to tap into the enormous, underutilized capacity of our national spectrum resources can serve as the foundation for high-speed broadband deployment in communities across the country. NAF policy proposals included: 1) Prioritize Open Fiber Networks Connecting Community Anchor Institutions, 2) Leverage Public Investment in Surface Transportation and Smart Grid to Extend Middle-Mile Fiber Access, 3) ARRA Broadband Mapping Should Include a Mapping of Public Spectrum Capability, and 4) Build on the TV White Space Database to Open Access to Unused and Underutilized Frequency Bands. Public investment in fiber and public access to airwaves ("fiber in the sky") can provide a springboard for expanding high-speed broadband to all communities; benefiting a wide variety of providers, business models, and broadband solutions, while also promoting competition, increased speeds and lower prices, and ensuring the U.S. continues to be a leading innovator in the communication technologies of the 21st century.
http://benton.org/node/25900
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MICROSOFT'S 4 STRATEGIES FOR UBIQUITOUS, AFFORDABLE, EVER-IMPROVING BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Microsoft, AUTHOR: ]
Microsoft submitted comments in the Federal Communications Commission''s proceeding on a national broadband plan. Microsoft presented four strategies the FCC should include in its plan to move the nation towards ubiquitous, affordable, ever-improving broadband -- and the applications and services that rely on that connectivity: 1) Define Baseline Broadband Services. Create definitions of "baseline broadband" for households and anchor-institutions in a way that meets citizens¡¦ critical needs today and as those needs evolve. 2) Reform Subsidies. The many programs that subsidize connectivity should be refocused, updating them from telephony-centric to include support for Baseline service for unserved and underserved. 3) To improve spectrum usage, the Commission should do an ongoing spectrum review. 4) Establish a Convergence-Aware Policy Framework.
http://benton.org/node/25899
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FTTH COUNCIL TELLS FCC THAT US HAS "RARE OPPORTUNITY" TO ADVANCE ALL-FIBER BROADBAND
[SOURCE: Fiber-to-the-Home Council, AUTHOR: Press release]
The economic stimulus legislation enacted earlier this year has provided the Federal Communications Commission with a "rare opportunity" to set forth a grand plan for broadband infrastructure that will help maintain US economic leadership for the rest of this century, according to comments filed by the Fiber-to-the-Home Council with the FCC. FTTH Council calls on the FCC to act boldly and set forth the goal of universal access to very high speed, all-fiber networks. "By doing so, it will expand our social and economic horizons and provide enormous benefits for all Americans," the Council wrote. "Because of their demands for an ever-expanding array of video-based and other large-file content and applications, American consumers are already beginning to demand and will certainly require shortly fixed access infrastructure supporting broadband services with transmissions at speeds of at least 100 megabits per second bidirectionally - and that these needs will continue to burgeon," the Council said in the filing.
http://benton.org/node/25898
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CYBERSECURITY


GOV'T NEEDS TO SPEND MORE ON CYBER R&D
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
The US government needs to spend more money on cybersecurity research and development and on education programs in order to fight a rising tide of attacks against government and private groups, cybersecurity experts told U.S. lawmakers. The US government has a 2009 R&D budget of about $143 billion, and only about $300 million will go to cybersecurity research, said Liesyl Franz, vice president of information security and global public policy at TechAmerica, a trade group. Funding for cybersecurity R&D and for training security professionals "requires immediate and sustained attention," she told the House of Representatives Research and Science Education Subcommittee Wednesday. Franz told lawmakers that there needs to be more formal ways that private industry can work with the government on cybersecurity research. Private organizations are generally asked about a project in the last stages of development, she said.
http://benton.org/node/25896
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CYBERSECURITY TOPS PRIORITIES FOR DHS'S RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ARM
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Jill Aitoro]
The Homeland Security Department's science and technology office plans to triple spending on cybersecurity research and development, the acting undersecretary told Congress on Tuesday, with most of the additional funds in President Obama's fiscal 2010 budget request focusing on new ways to protect the nation's critical infrastructure, including transportation and the electric grid. The Directorate for Science and Technology, which is the primary research and development arm of DHS, requested $968 million for fiscal 2010, a 3.8 percent increase over the previous year's enacted budget. Of the $35 million in additional funds requested, DHS would earmark $5.4 million for cybersecurity, Brad Buswell, the directorate's acting undersecretary, told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism. Buswell said cybersecurity would gain a 300 percent funding increase, compared with fiscal 2009, for the development of "leap-ahead technologies" that secure the nation's computer networks and information infrastructure -- including energy, transportation, telecommunications, and banking and finance.
http://benton.org/node/25895
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CELL PHONES, OTHER DEVICES NEXT BIG CYBERSECURITY TARGETS
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Jill Aitoro]
Cell phones and other mobile devices that provide access to the Internet will be the source of a "tsunami of insecurity" that will leave computer networks vulnerable to cyberattacks because manufacturers have not considered protecting the equipment, security professionals told Congress on Wednesday. Concern over the vulnerabilities has increased as more users worldwide shift to mobile devices in favor of desktop and laptop computers. More than 3.5 billion cell phones are now in use, vastly outnumbering traditional Internet users, said Seymour Goodman, professor of international affairs and computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He predicted that within the next five to 10 years, powerful mobile devices could supplant desktop and laptop computers as the primary form of access to the Internet.
http://benton.org/node/25894
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BROADCASTING


ENGINEERS FORECAST SMOOTH SAILING FOR ANALOG SHUTOFF
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Glen Dickson]
Engineering chiefs from major stations groups were busy Thursday reviewing their plans for what will be an even-busier Friday, as a digital TV conversion that began some 13 years ago comes to a conclusion when local stations permanently cease their analog operations by midnight today, June 12. They say they are ready for the turnoff and don't expect any major problems, though most won't be getting a lot of sleep as they oversee the logistics. "So far, everything looks pretty non-eventful on our side," says Ardell Hill, senior VP of broadcast operations for Media General. "It's playing to a Y2K-type of attitude." Like many other groups, Media General already had a few stations successfully turn off analog early on the original turnoff date of February 17. A number of its stations that are still broadcasting analog have already ceased regular programming, and are running informational messages.
http://benton.org/node/25893
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NIELSEN: 70.5% OF HOUSEHOLDS "UNREADY" IN NOV ACQUIRED CONVERTER BOXES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson]
The Nielsen Co. reports that almost 70.5% of households that were defined as "unready" for the digital transition back in November, acquired a digital converter box. 19.7% of those unready homes ordered cable, while 9.6% went to satellite.
http://benton.org/node/25892
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MARKEY SAYS PUSH FOR DIGITAL STANDARD WAS GAME-CHANGER
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Former House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) says he expects there to be some "confusion and dislocation" in the switchover June 12, but added that it could and would have been much worse had not Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps appeared on the scene to quarterback the late-game comeback drive to digital. He also said the Obama administration was right to move the date, pointing to the over 3.5 million households that were able to prepare for the switch. The game-changing moment, he said, came when the FCC decided to go with a digital rather than an analog standard--the first digital switch, as it were--and said that came after he "aggressively advocated for such a switch and successfully convinced the FCC in 1990 to begin pursuing a digital standard." Rep Markey chaired the first House hearing on digital television in 1987.
http://benton.org/node/25891
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NEW NAB LEADERSHIP
[SOURCE: tvnewsday, AUTHOR: ]
Meredith Broadcasting Group President Paul Karpowicz was unanimously elected president of the National Association of Broadcasters Television Board at its meeting in Washington earlier this week. NAB Radio Board Chairman Steve Newberry becomes the Joint Board chairman. He is president and CEO of Commonwealth Broadcasting. Charles Warfield, president and COO, ICBC Broadcasting Holdings, was elected to succeed Newberry as Radio Board Chairman. Janet McGregor, NAB's COO and CFO, was officially designated acting president and CEO while a board committee conducts a search for a permanent successor to Rehr.
http://benton.org/node/25890
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... and we're outta here. School's out and Dylan turns 7! Havea great weekend.

Political Cues in China Web Filter

Web-filtering software that the Chinese government will require on all new personal computers includes data files containing political keywords and Web addresses, suggesting it could block more than just pornography. A notice sent to PC makers last month said they must include the software with all new PCs shipped in China as of July 1. Chinese officials and the main developer of the software have said the purpose of the software, called Green Dam-Youth Escort, is to enable parents to prevent their children from viewing online pornography. But foreign industry officials and free-speech advocates have criticized the plan as an effort by Beijing to expand its censorship powers. Isaac Mao, a fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, said Green Dam data files have a broad range of political content, "much more than Falun Gong," the banned spiritual group.

Tax Man's Target: The Mobile Phone

The use of company-issued mobile phones could trigger new federal income taxes on millions of Americans as a "fringe benefit." The Internal Revenue Service proposed employers assign 25% of an employee's annual phone expenses as a taxable benefit. Under that scenario, a worker in the 28% tax bracket, whose wireless device costs the company $1,500 a year, could see $105 in additional federal income tax. The IRS, in a notice issued this week, said employees could avoid tax liability if they showed proof they used personal cellphones for nonbusiness calls during work hours. The agency also could decide on a set number of phone minutes as "minimal personal use" that would be untaxed. In a third option proposed by the IRS, employers could use a statistical sampling to determine what portion of workers' cellphone use is personal and how much is work-related. Workers would be taxed on the difference. The IRS move, which is spurring efforts by the wireless industry and others to kill the idea, would mark a stricter enforcement of an existing rule that classifies employer-provided cellphones as a taxable benefit, rather than a 24-hour-a-day work tool.

Spending Stimulus Money Takes Money

With the national unemployment rate rising last month to 9.4 percent, a growing criticism is that the stimulus package is not having the desired effect of creating jobs, a perception President Obama and Vice President Biden addressed this week with a vow to accelerate the spending. One reason the full weight of the money has not been felt faster across the country, though, may be that a bureaucracy takes time -- and money -- to gear up in the capital. At one level, even spending on administrative overhead meets the most basic purpose of the package: to get money into the economy. But of the areas that most need a boost, greater Washington is pretty much at the bottom of the list. While unemployment rises elsewhere, it has declined in the region for the past two months, to 5.6 percent, the lowest of any major metro area.

Consumer Groups See Universal Service as Central Goal and Tool in National Broadband Plan

CFA and CU argue that the Federal Communications Commission should focus its national broadband plan on the achievement of the central goal of the Communications Act - universal service. Attention should be focused on activating the policy tool it has to directly promote progress toward that goal. The CFA and CU are concerned that the broad and scatter shot nature of the FCC's proceeding will carry the Commission into a morass of regulation and litigation that will slow progress down, when there is a clear need and clear authority to implement universal service policies that can have an immediate impact on solving the problem. They argue that the FCC must get back to basics and define broadband as Title II service eligible for universal service support as the means to ensure that all people of the United States have adequate facilities at charges that are just, reasonable, affordable and nondiscriminatory. The Commission should adopt an experiential approach to defining broadband, with any technology capable of supporting the range of activities in which broadband users engage being eligible for
support with universal service funds.

Essential Building-Blocks For Universal High-Speed Broadband

The Wireless Future Program of the New America Foundation filed comments on Monday regarding the Federal Communications Commission's development of a national broadband plan. NAF believes that a national effort to invest in the essential fiber infrastructures that interconnect all broadband networks and are essential to high-capacity connections, along with innovative 21st century spectrum polices to tap into the enormous, underutilized capacity of our national spectrum resources can serve as the foundation for high-speed broadband deployment in communities across the country. NAF policy proposals included:

1) Prioritize Open Fiber Networks Connecting Community Anchor Institutions,

2) Leverage Public Investment in Surface Transportation and Smart Grid to Extend Middle-Mile Fiber Access,

3) ARRA Broadband Mapping Should Include a Mapping of Public Spectrum Capability, and

4) Build on the TV White Space Database to Open Access to Unused and Underutilized Frequency Bands.

Public investment in fiber and public access to airwaves ("fiber in the sky") can provide a springboard for expanding high-speed broadband to all communities; benefiting a wide variety of providers, business models, and broadband solutions, while also promoting competition, increased speeds and lower prices, and ensuring the U.S. continues to be a leading innovator in the communication technologies of the 21st century.

Microsoft's 4 strategies for ubiquitous, affordable, ever-improving broadband

Microsoft submitted comments in the Federal Communications Commission''s proceeding on a national broadband plan. Microsoft presented four strategies the FCC should include in its plan to move the nation towards ubiquitous, affordable, ever-improving broadband -- and the applications and services that rely on that connectivity: 1) Define Baseline Broadband Services. Create definitions of "baseline broadband" for households and anchor-institutions in a way that meets citizens¡¦ critical needs today and as those needs evolve. 2) Reform Subsidies. The many programs that subsidize connectivity should be refocused, updating them from telephony-centric to include support for Baseline service for unserved and underserved. 3) To improve spectrum usage, the Commission should do an ongoing spectrum review. 4) Establish a Convergence-Aware Policy Framework.

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