October 2010

CGB and WTB Release Advanced Services Accessibility Public Notice

The Federal Communications Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released a Public Notice that seeks comment on some of the key provisions of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010, which the President signed into law on October 8, 2010.

The law's provisions are designed to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to emerging Internet Protocol-based communication and video programming technologies in the 21st Century. The PN seeks comment on the requirement in Section 716 of the Act that service providers of advanced communications services and manufacturers of equipment and software used with those services ensure that their equipment and services will be accessible to people with disabilities, unless not achievable.

The FCC is required to promulgate rules implementing this provision within one year of enactment. Given the tight statutory deadline, the PN seeks to build a record as quickly as possible to aid the Commission in its rulemaking. The PN also seeks initial comment on ways to implement new recordkeeping obligations imposed by new Section 717 on entities subject to Sections 255, 716, and 718. In addition, this Notice seeks comment on the obligation imposed by new Section 718 on manufacturers and service providers to provide access to Internet browsers in telephones used with public mobile services by blind or visually-impaired individuals.

Comments are due November 22 and reply comments are due December 7.

Groups, Firms Push For Action On Online IP Bill

A group of 40 companies and business groups wrote Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to push for action on his legislation aimed at cracking down on online piracy and counterfeiting.

The coalition urged Sen Leahy to push for Senate approval of the legislation when Congress returns in mid-November for a lame-duck session after the November midterm elections. The legislation would give the Justice Department new authority to file a civil action against a domain name linked to a website trafficking in illegal copyrighted content or counterfeit goods. Under the bill, the company that sold the domain name registration to the website could be forced to revoke the domain name of the site if it is being used for copyright infringement or counterfeiting. The Judiciary Committee was set to mark up the bill in late September but postponed action on the measure when the Senate recessed for the midterm elections.

Fox Commentators Call For NPR funding To Be Cut

Two potential Republican presidential candidates -- and current Fox News Channel commentators -- went to their Facebook accounts to blast National Public Radio for firing analyst Juan Williams for controversial comments he made about Muslims and to urge lawmakers to cut funding for the organization.

Williams was fired for telling Fox News host Bill O'Reilly that when he boards an airplane and sees "people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.'' "If NPR is unable to tolerate an honest debate about an issue as important as Islamic terrorism, then it's time for 'National Public Radio' to become 'National Private Radio,'" wrote Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. "It's time for Congress to defund this organization." Her comments were echoed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. He said he would decline future interview requests from NPR. "It is time for the taxpayers to start making cuts to federal spending, and I encourage the new Congress to start with NPR.".

How the Cloud Can Enable Shared Phones For Millions

For residents in emerging countries, where income can be under a dollar per day, a handset purchase is considered a luxury. Dual SIM handsets from Nokia and others are targeted for these specific markets, allowing two people to share the same phone. That's one solution, but it pales in scope next to what Movirtu offers with its MX Share platform, which leverages the cloud to make millions of mobiles potentially sharable among a number of different people.

With MX Share, subscribers purchase airtime minutes, services and their own phone number, even if they have no phone. Using either a pay phone or someone else's handset, a subscriber can log-in to their phone account to place prepaid calls, send text messages or check voicemail. No special handset or other hardware is required. Essentially, the model is similar to sharing a computer through multiple accounts; sign in to get your data and use the device. The key difference is that the account management enabling handset use is handled in the cloud, not on the individual device. Discovery likens the approach to using web-based email, another communications method that people can use on practically any web-connected computing device.

Public Knowledge Tells FCC It Must Prevent Harm To Future Programming Competition

Fox's decision to cut off access to its online programming to Cablevision subscribers shows that "the current generation of dominant content and content delivery networks are trying to control the next," Public Knowledge told the Federal Communications Commission.

The incident shows that programmers "are willing and able to limit their online content only to ISPs (Internet Service Providers) who are willing to 'pay to play,'" PK said, citing cases of NBC blocking Olympics coverage, the "TV Everywhere" scheme and Hulu blocking of Boxee, Kylo and Google TV." While these types of actions are not "network neutrality" as precisely understood because they were conduct inflicted on an ISP rather than by an ISP, the actions "could threaten the integrity of the open Internet as much as anti-competitive behavior by telecommunications providers. Accordingly, incidents such as these should be investigated by the FCC, FTC, Justice Department, or other agencies, according to their jurisdiction," PK said.

PK said that the FCC must address the issue on two levels. One level is the Comcast purchase of NBC, which could generate "more, and more damaging, retransmission consent and online video disputes." On a second, broader level, PK said the FCC has to "address the overall problem of media consolidation that allows a single commercial dispute between two companies to deprive millions of consumers of programming and impacts the evolution of the open Internet ecosystem." The FCC has allowed consolidation in programming, broadband and video-distribution markets on the theory that the Internet would provide competition to existing systems.

Intel: Don't Make TVs Into PCs

Between Google and Apple TV and a slew of Internet-enabled televisions hitting shelves this holiday season, it's only a matter of time before the keyboard replaces the remote control. Right? Not according to Intel Fellow, and Most Creative anthropologist Genevieve Bell, who, after spending years studying consumer habits, believes the PC isn't taking over the TV.

"Do you want to live in a world where your TiVo says, I'm terribly sorry, before you can see this next show, I have to defrag myself? Or the next time your set-top box says, I know we're in the middle of the playoffs but I need new drivers--no content view until downloaded?" Bell said. "People don't want their televisions to turn into a computer. People actually love their televisions because it turns out they're nothing like computers. They are not demanding--televisions don't require you to enter passwords!" Since coming to this conclusion, Intel has entirely changed its direction. Now, the company is focused on bringing the Internet to television in a way that's TV-friendly, meaning it doesn't interrupt the experience with the regular junk and clutter of most operating systems. "The right answer was not: Intel will liberate the computer lurking inside of every TV, which was our next point of strategy," Bell explained. Rather, Intel wants to bring the Web to TVs in the same way it was brought to the mobile space.

Groups Urge the FCC to Reinstate Collection of Equal Employment Opportunity Data

More than three dozen organizations filed a letter calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reinstate collection of equal employment opportunity, or "EEO", data. The letter was submitted in support of National Hispanic Media Coalition's (NHMC) reply comment filed in mid-September.

From 1970 through 2000, every broadcast station was required to report the number of employees in each of nine job categories by race and gender. Members of the public could gain access to this data by visiting the station and looking at the public file or by going to FCC headquarters. The FCC used this data to compile annual "trend reports" tracking the aggregate percentage of people of color and women employed in each job category. Although the Commission decided to reinstate this data collection in 2004, that decision has never been implemented.

The organizations signing onto the letter include: Access Humboldt; AfterDark CATV PRO; Alliance for Community Media; Alliance for Women in Media; Asian American Justice Center; Benton Foundation; Center for Media Justice; Chicago Media Action; Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, Inc.; Common Cause; Communications Workers of America; Dr. Clara E. Rodriguez, Professor, Fordham University, Department of Sociology & Anthropology; Free Press; Future of Music Coalition; Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU); Hispanic National Bar Association; Industry Ears; Media Access Project; Media Alliance; Media and Democracy Coalition; Media Working Group; Minority Media and Telecommunications Council; National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives; National Association of Hispanic Journalists; National Association of Hispanic Publications; National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP); National Conference of Puerto Rican Women, Inc. (NACOPRW); New America Foundation, Open Technology Initiative; National Hispana Leadership Institute (NHLI); National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC); National Institute of Latino Policy (NiLP); Office of Communication, United Church of Christ, Inc.; Public Knowledge; Reclaim the Media; SueWilsonReports; The Transmission Project; United States Hispanic Leadership Institute; UNITY: Journalists of Color; and Women in Media & News (WIMN)

Smart21 Communities of 2011

The Intelligent Community Forum (www.intelligentcommunity.org) announced its highly anticipated list of the .

The announcement was made by ICF Co-founder Louis Zacharilla at an event hosted by Suwon, South Korea, ICF's 2010 Intelligent Community of the Year. The Smart21 announcement is the first stage of ICF's annual Intelligent Community Awards cycle. It is followed by the naming of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year, selected from among the 21. The Top Seven announcement will be made on January 19, 2011 at the annual Pacific Telecommunications Council conference (www.ptc.org) in Honolulu, Hawaii during an awards luncheon. The cycle concludes in New York City on June 3, 2011 during ICF's annual Building the Broadband Economy Summit (www.icfsummit.com), where one of the Top Seven will succeed Suwon as Intelligent Community of the Year 2011. Each year ICF defines a theme that guides the nominations for the Intelligent Community of the Year. The 2011 theme is "Health in the Intelligent Community." The have shown moving and innovative approaches to the delivery of better care as well as an increase in productivity and elimination of unnecessary costs. These developments take on ever-increasing importance at a time when the Baby Boom generation is entering its elder years and costs are expected to rise as a result. At the same time, they are promoting the growth of highly competitive clusters of companies in traditional healthcare as well as emerging fields in which information and communications technology are used to improve quality, transparency and productivity in healthcare and life sciences.

The Smart21 of 2011

Birmingham, UK
Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
Chongqing, China
Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
Dakota County, Minnesota, USA
Danville, Virginia, USA
Dublin, Ohio, USA
Eindhoven, Netherlands
Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Northeast Ohio, USA
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Riverside, California, USA
Shanghai, China
Sopron, Hungary
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Taoyuan County, Taiwan
Trikala, Greece
Windsor-Essex, Ontario, Canada
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Public libraries: the perfect public service

There was something magical about the place; not just as a font of centuries-old knowledge but as a conduit to touch the lives and the stories of other people. It was hands-on time travel before the computers, the Net or cell phones connected us all to past, present and future. That was ions ago.

Today, I still love public libraries; still get a sense of coming home each time I enter one; still appreciate the institution as a whole and the underrated people who work there. Why, in my opinion, are public libraries and librarians the perfect public service?

1) Librarians are, by and large, a courteous lot. We all know good customer service is as rare as good taste these days, but you can still find it at your local library. Librarians are also smart, having immersed themselves in all forms of knowledge for most of their training and much of their lives.

2) For a few cents on our tax dollars, where else can you get a cool, quiet place to meditate in the summer and a warm place in the winter; no-hassle use of computers; somewhere to bring your children and keep them entertained as well as informed; helpful assistance with research and off-the-wall questions; magazine swap sites (FREE) and cheap book sales?

Fixing our media hypnosis

[Commentary] We have an ever-accelerating journalism cycle that is making mistakes, shortening our attention spans, presenting opinion as news, and trivializing our political debates. We are learning that even though we have an unimaginable wealth of information at our fingertips, our trust can be easily misplaced. How do we fix the problem?

Ideally we would see a transformation of news media towards verifiability and quality, addressing all of the above issues. Hopefully we will see a transition towards more transparency regarding sources and certainty in the media. If it is made clear that a story is being investigated, preliminary reports should not have as great of a deleterious effect when they turn out to be wrong. We also have to end the mislabeling of opinion and hype as news. However, even if all of this does come about, it will likely be too slow to avoid the damage this system is continually inflicting on us today. We need to empower ourselves as individuals so that we can function well in spite of today's broken news media system.

Benton

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