September 2010

New Internet Access Data from FCC

The Federal Communications Commission has detailed data on the number of Internet connections at speeds that approximate the national broadband availability target recommended by the National Broadband Plan. The report focuses on multiple and higher speed tiers, rather than on the FCC's historical categories of "high speed" (any Internet connection with speeds over 200 kilobits per second downstream) or "advanced services."

Report highlights include the following, as of June 2009:

Out of a total of 71 million fixed - as opposed to mobile - connections to households, only 44% met or exceeded the speed tier that most closely approximates the universal availability target set in the National Broadband Plan of 4 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 1 Mbps upstream
The number of mobile wireless service subscribers with data plans for full Internet access increased by 40% over the first six months of 2009, to 35 million
Cable modem connections increased by 3% to 41 million and aDSL by 1% to 31 million in the first six months of 2009
A 23% increase in fiber connections, to 4 million, was the largest rate of increase among fixed-location technologies
Satellite Internet connections increased by 6% to 1 million

Silicon Valley companies making billion-dollar deals

Call it the season of billion-dollar deals.

From Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems to Intel and Oracle, some of Silicon Valley's largest companies charged out of the recession with fat bankrolls and a determination to spend whatever it takes this year to reshape their businesses around emerging technologies. If the buying binge continues, 2010 could rank among the biggest for billion-dollar deals in a decade. Companies in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties already have announced five purchases worth at least $1 billion this year, according to the 451 Group, which has compiled such data since 2002. The previous record -- last set in 2009 -- was seven. In what could become the year's sixth mega deal, the outcome of a bidding war between HP and Dell was likely to be decided this morning, when Fremont data-storage company 3Par is scheduled to announce whether it has accepted HP's offer of about $2 billion. But analysts expect the wave of deals in the valley to continue.

Be Mobile or Be Dust

[Commentary] A new report from Burson-Marsteller and Proof Integrated Communications finds:

Companies who are not already engaging with stakeholders via mobile are missing infinite business and revenue-generating opportunities created by exponential mobile growth. And, once mobile is even more pervasive in a few years, businesses who are not in the mobile space risk being squeezed out by competitors.
Mobile users are not passive. They seek information, manage personal finances, interact with others and shop. They are seeking content and tools relevant to their needs.
Mobile is not just for young people. Eighty-two percent of seniors use their mobile phones for information and learning.
Location-based targeting is the a critical distinction that makes mobile communications more powerful than other channels. Knowing where a mobile user is - whether if be in a store, with friends, at a restaurant or at the office - can help businesses know which content is most relevant to deliver to the consumer at that moment.

How Neutral Is The Internet?

Whether the Internet is truly a democratic forum was called into question this week in a dispute about Internet traffic management between AT&T and the consumer advocacy group Free Press.

The feud boiled down to what it means to have "paid prioritization," a phenomenon viewed as anathema by advocates of Internet openness, and to what extent preferential treatment of content already takes place. The issue is at the very heart of a broader debate about what regulatory steps are necessary, if any, to ensure the Internet remains an engine of economic growth and a platform of equal value to people across the socioeconomic spectrum. AT&T, in a letter filed with the Federal Communications Commission, argued that paid prioritization of Internet traffic, contrary to claims made by Free Press, is already a common practice of Web management and consistent with protocols set by the Internet Engineering Task Force. Largely unknown to people outside the technology field, IETF is a professional organization composed of engineers that develop standards for the Internet; for over two decades, it has played an integral role in the management of the Internet.

The current chair of the IETF, Russ Housley, disagrees with AT&T's assessment. "AT&T's characterization is misleading," Housley said. "IETF prioritization technology is geared toward letting network users indicate how they want network providers to handle their traffic, and there is no implication in the IETF about payment based on any prioritization."

New America Letter on Clarify Prioritization Practices on the NET

New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative (OTI) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission responding to AT&T's letter of August 30th, 2010 concerning the use of traffic prioritization. OTI's letter seeks to rebut AT&T's assertions that traffic prioritization technologies are already in widespread use and any attempt to restrain the use of those technologies would be harmful to the functioning of the Internet.

"AT&T ability to create confusion over paid prioritization is exactly why the FCC needs to set clear and transparent rules," stated Sascha Meinrath, Director of OTI. "Paid prioritization targeting minority communities is deeply concerning and should immediately be investigated by the FCC." OTI's letter describes how the Internet traffic prioritization technologies cited by AT&T are currently used with enterprise-class customers to allow them to set traffic priorities for their broadband connection. These practices are distinct from a 3rd party paid prioritization model for residential broadband customers which would be used to set up a slow and fast lane for Internet content and applications that would be inconsistent with network neutrality principles and establish a completely new model fundamentally different from AT&T's claimed status quo.

"In their letter, AT&T seeks to confuse the issue by conflating good network practices currently in use with traffic prioritization techniques that could potentially be harmful to Internet users in the near future," said Josh King, Staff Technologist for OTI. "We are trying to clarify that distinction."

Sen Kerry Renews Call For Open Net Rules

While encouraging the two sides to continue to engage in constructive talks on the issue, Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) renewed his call for the FCC to use the authority it currently has to ensure the openness of the Internet.

"I remain open to and am actively working on a legislative solution to ensure that law reflects the growing consensus that the open Internet must be preserved and promoted, but I also believe that the FCC has the authority, ability, and responsibility to use its regulatory authority under existing law to preserve Internet freedom with or without a new law," Sen Kerry said.

Net Neutrality's New Enemy: The Mythical Mushy Middle

[Commentary] The fight over net neutrality is red hot right now. Since news broke that Google and Verizon were hatching a plan to carve up the Internet, millions have woken up to the fact that the Internet is in jeopardy and the would-be watchdogs at the Federal Communications Commission aren't doing much about it. Those of us who've been in the trenches the past few years defending the free and open Internet from a corporate takeover understand that -- like in any high-stakes political debate -- things can get a little ugly. When you're challenging the interests of giant corporations like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, you have to expect they're going to spread misinformation, call you names, hire astroturf front groups to attack you, and spend gobs and gobs of money to co-opt Congress and confuse the public. That's politics. This is a big moment. If we're ever going to safeguard the open Internet, the time is now. But all of this noise and attention is making certain people very uncomfortable. You know the type: I call them the guardians of the mythical mushy middle. And I'm starting to think these self-righteous, can't-we-all-just-get-along zealots of moderation are more dangerous to the prospects of net neutrality than the greedy industry CEOs, their hired guns, or even Glenn Beck.

Scientists view cybersecurity as an intimidating conundrum

The Internet's extensive cybersecurity vulnerabilities are so hard to fix that information technology researchers sometimes avoid studying the topic like they were steering clear of the seamy underbelly of a great metropolitan city, top scientists said.

Jeannette M. Wing, who served as assistant director of the computer and information science and engineering directorate at the National Science Foundation from 2007 until recently, was called in by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to discuss specific areas in the networking and information technology sector that the federal government should be investing research and development funds in. "I think cybersecurity . . . is the most difficult challenge. And it's not just a societal and political challenge. It's a technical challenge," said Wing, who this summer returned to her post as head of the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon University. "Leadership needs to come from the top since no one sector of government, industry and academia can address this challenge alone." PCAST, which is composed of the nation's leading scientists and engineers, makes recommendations to the president on policies ranging from flu vaccine production to nanotechnology. The panel is working on a networking and IT research and development study.

The Mosque Debate Continues to Galvanize the Blogosphere

To a degree not seen in the mainstream press, the controversy over the lower Manhattan mosque has touched a raw nerve in the social media. Indeed, August 23-27 marked the third straight week that the intersection of politics, religion, terrorism, and 9/11 memories has made the issue one of the top subjects in the blogosphere. For the week of August 23-27, almost a quarter (23%) of the news links on blogs were about the mosque, making it the No. 1 subject, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That marks the most attention to the topic since the mosque debate emerged among bloggers in early August. In each of those three weeks, the debate narrative has been somewhat different. The first week was dominated by comments from opponents of building the mosque a few blocks away from the World Trade Center site. The next week, the other side weighed in as mosque supporters led the conversation. And last week, bloggers on both sides of the issue took part in a discussion that was as much about the motives of those having the argument as the mosque itself. Many supporters of the mosque claimed that opponents were motivated by politics or hatred of Islam, while other bloggers suggested that the charges of racism against Muslims were unfair.

Frontier plans $40 million investment in Illinois broadband

Frontier Communications, which serves mainly rural areas and smaller communities, plans to spend more than $40 million to expand broadband service in Illinois over the next 12 months. "What we are trying to do is give people the flexibility to live and work anywhere they want and have the same telecommunication infrastructure as if they worked in Chicago," said Maggie Wilderotter, chairman and CEO of Frontier. "It's important for us to provide that capability in these small towns."

In July, Frontier, which is based in Connecticut, took over 4.8 million landlines in Illinois and 13 other states that were previously operated by Verizon. Springfield-area communities now served by Frontier include Chatham, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Waverly, Virden, Auburn, Loami, Girard, Pawnee, Sherman, Pleasant Plains, New Berlin, Elkhart, Williamsville, Divernon and Illiopolis. "One of the commitments we have made to the state of Illinois is that we want to get a minimum of 80 percent reach for broadband over the next two years," Wilderotter. "And our goal would be to get somewhere between 85 to 90 percent in a three-year window."

Benton

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