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  2. April 2011

April 2011

FCC's Bad Influence Spreads Abroad

The European Union's latest network neutrality pronouncement had all the earmarks of the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Just like the FCC's Dec. 21 order on an open Internet, EU Vice President Neelie Kroes said all the right things, tiptoed right up to the line, and then backed off before doing anything significant to protect Internet users. In making the long-awaited announcement of its Net Neutrality policy, Kroes said all the right things. "The true value of the Internet lies in the fact that it belongs to all of us." That's true. "As a platform for free expression, for community, for business – it may even be our most valuable communal asset." Can't argue with that.

Then there was: "The Commission will not put the achievement of the open Internet at risk. I am determined that everyone in the EU should have the chance to enjoy the benefits of an open and neutral Internet, without hidden restrictions or slower speeds than they have been promised." All well and good, right? The policy was good as far as it went, but the problem was it didn't go very far. It endorsed some modest U.S.-style changes -- a need for transparency and quality standards, as well as a non-U.S. factor, ease in switching providers. The last one is significant because in many EU countries, there is some choice for consumers that we in the U.S. don't have. The EU, to its credit, still maintains requirements that Internet Service Providers lease lines and have wholesale arrangements with other companies. As a result, consumers in many countries actually have some choice in providers. The new rules, to be published at the end of May, will make certain "that conditions and procedures for contract termination do not act as a disincentive against changing service provider."

Open Internet Advisory Committee

In a Federal Register notice, the Federal Communications Commission announced its intent to create the .

The purpose of the Committee is to track and evaluate the effects of the FCC's Open Internet rules, and to provide any recommendations the Committee deems appropriate to the FCC regarding policies and practices related to preserving the open Internet. The Committee will observe market developments regarding the freedom and openness of the Internet and will focus in particular on issues addressed in the FCC's Open Internet rules, such as transparency, reasonable network management practices, differences in treatment of fixed and mobile broadband services, specialized services, technical standards, and the state of competition.

VoIP providers could get special (lower) long-distance access charge rate

When the Federal Communications Commission announced several weeks ago that it would consider requiring VoIP providers to pay access charges, it didn't occur to me that the Commission might impose a separate long-distance access charge rate for VoIP providers. But as a recent FCC workshop revealed, that is one of several options the Commission is considering. The workshop, which happened on April 7, focused on inter-carrier compensation reform and brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including incumbent carriers such as Verizon and Windstream and competitive carriers such as XO and Vonage, as well as Time Warner Cable. There was even a Wall Street representative -- Paul Gallant, senior vice president and telecom analyst for Stanford Washington Research Group.

Smartphone App Users Concerned with Privacy When it Comes to Location

More and more mobile applications allow consumers to share information about where they are by voluntarily “checking in” to a location or by having their GPS-enabled smartphone automatically transmit that information via the app.

Some marketers reward consumers for sharing their location with loyalty points, discount coupons for nearby businesses, or other promotional “badges” and benefits. But despite the growing popularity of check-in services in the U.S., there are still many who are reticent to share information about their geographic location. According to The Nielsen Company’s latest research on mobile applications, most mobile app downloaders, which Nielsen defines as those mobile subscribers who have downloaded an application in the past 30 days, are concerned about privacy when it comes to sharing their location via mobile phone. This concern is more pronounced among women app downloaders, with 59 percent reporting they have privacy concerns compared to 52 percent of male app downloaders.

Lockheed Martin gets more HHS money to study privacy controls

The Department of Health and Human Services has asked federal contractor Lockheed Martin to study how privacy consent controls could be part of future requirements for the meaningful use of electronic health-record systems.

In July, HHS awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth more than $5.3 million for work supporting implementation of the Nationwide Health Information Network developed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. This week, HHS modified the contract, bumping up the order by more than $1.2 million and giving Lockheed Martin four new unspecified tasks "integral to work currently being performed," according to a notice published on FedBizOpps.gov. The additional outlay will help Lockheed give the ONC "an in-depth understanding of how privacy consent directives may become a core part of future meaningful-use requirements for trusted exchange of sensitive records," according to the notice.

Comcast to provide sports coverage for San Francisco NBC station

A Comcast regional sports network will assume sports coverage for an NBC TV station in northern California, the first case of the cable company's sports content replacing a traditional sports report at an NBC broadcast affiliate.

NBCUniversal will examine whether similar synergies exist in other markets where it owns a local TV station and a regional sports network, including Philadelphia, where the company owns NBC10. Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, acquired 51 percent control of NBCUniversal in January. The move at KNTV, which covers San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, is part of a sweeping review inside NBCUniversal of its operations since former Comcast executive Steve Burke assumed the top position at the New York-based news and entertainment company.

Product placement guru explains how it's done

If you've seen Steve Carell drink a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee on "The Office," Zach Galifianakis strap on a Baby Bjorn in "The Hangover," Mike Myers takes a swig of Heineken in the "Austin Powers" movies or Lea Michele whip off Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses on "Glee," you may have wondered: Why did that product have to be there? If you're Norm Marshall, you've watched that same film or TV show and congratulated yourself on a job well done. Marshall has one of the most unusual — and polarizing — jobs in Hollywood. Officially called an "entertainment marketing consultant," his real task is more delicate and more blunt. Marshall is one of the premiere independent product-placement specialists, a role that requires him to be part diplomat, part translator and part enforcer on behalf of the countless brands that seek to promote their products by infiltrating mass entertainment. Navigating the tricky waters of Hollywood to secure screen time for a brand — and making sure characters stay on message once he does — Marshall has a job that lies somewhere between Madeleine Albright and Michael Clayton. "I smooth out the rough edges," he said.

Debate: Governments Should Neither Subsidize Nor Operate Broadband Networks to Compete with Commercial Ones

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
9:00 - 11:00 AM

NCTA, the industry association of America's cable companies, claims that the Rural Utility Service mistakenly funded projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in areas that were already served by one or more broadband providers. RUS maintains the grants are defensible because existing broadband services in the areas were inadequate to support rural economic development. Meanwhile, the state of North Carolina is considering a bill that would restrict the ability of municipalities to use public funding to build broadband networks in markets that are already served by commercial providers; supporters of municipal networks maintain that existing broadband services are often inadequate in rural areas. Join ITIF for an Oxford-style debate on these controversies and, of course, elucidation on terms such as "served" and "unserved."

Participants:
Robert D. Atkinson
President and Founder, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

James Baller
President, Baller Herbst Law Group

Jeff Eisenach
Managing Director and Principal, Navigant Economics

Harold Feld
Legal Director, Public Knowledge


Waves of Innovation: Spectrum Allocation in the Age of the Mobile Internet
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
12:00 PM-1:30 PM

For many of us the term "spectrum policy" has to do with allocating relatively small parts of the radio frequency space to specific applications such as AM and FM radio, television, and public safety. It is a notion more apt for a time when we watched TV over the air and made phone calls over a wireline network. Today these patterns of usage are reversed and we live in a world where mobile broadband has emerged as a general-purpose technology that can support a wide range of applications. We need a need for general-purpose spectrum and spectrum policy that is ready for this and future technological advances. Join ITIF for an exploration of lessons learned in wireless networking that impact spectrum assignment policies and contemporary issues in spectrum policy such as the development of 3G and 4G networks, the rise of Wi-Fi and other unlicensed technologies, the role of microwave, the impact of dynamic spectrum allocation, the utility of spectrum auctions, secondary uses, and secondary markets.

Moderator:
Richard Bennett
Senior Research Fellow, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

Participants:
Neeta A. Bidwai
Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Senator Mark Warner (D-VA)

Steven J. Crowley
Consulting Engineer, Steven J. Crowley P.E.

Thomas W. Hazlett
Professor of Law and Economics, George Mason University

Matthew Hussey
Legislative Assistant, Office of Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

Charles Jackson
Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering, George Washington University

Hal J. Singer
Managing Director and Principal, Navigant Economics

Capitol Hill Location to be announced


Medical Data Innovation: Building the Foundations of a Health Information Economy

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
3:00 PM-4:30 PM

On April 26, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in IMS Health v. Sorrell, a case that will decide whether state laws that restrict the use of prescriber-identified data violate the First Amendment protections of free speech. This case will have important implications for how health data will be used for medical research, patient education, marketing, and health care reform. Do laws that burden or ban the use of de-identified data for marketing purposes also impede medical research? Under the Constitution, can states that want to regulate the conduct of those who use data do so indirectly by restricting the factual data itself? What would be the real-world consequences to health care and technological innovation if the laws restricting or banning particular data sets survive Constitutional scrutiny? What privacy angles should be considered? And more broadly, is de-identified medical data a public good or private property? These are important questions that policymakers will face as government and industry invest billions of dollars in health information technology. Join ITIF for a discussion about how de-identified medical data is used today and how policy can help create opportunities to promote data-driven medical innovations.

Participants:
Cathy Betz
Vice President, Government Affairs, Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions

Marc A. Rodwin
Professor, Suffolk University Law School

Ann B. Waldo
Partner, Wittie, Letsche & Waldo, LLP

Moderator:
Daniel Castro
Senior Analyst, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation


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