July 2011

Tech experts exit White House

When President Barack Obama took office, he brought with him a pack of technology advocates with impressive résumés and ambitious visions. They wanted to improve the government through the use of Internet tools and iPhone apps and help shape communications policy to expand broadband. But the core group of techies that launched big initiatives has left the White House over the past six months, raising questions about what will become of the administration’s technology-focused goals.

The recent resignation of Vivek Kundra, the federal government’s first chief information officer, is the latest, highest-profile departure. Another division of the executive office -- the Office of Science and Technology Policy, led by Director John P. Holdren -- has also seen turnover this year. Andrew McLaughlin, who was deputy chief technology officer in charge of Internet policy, left in December. Beth Noveck, who was deputy chief technology officer for open government, returned to New York Law School in January and will consult with the U.K. government. Meanwhile, Jim Kohlenberger, OSTP chief of staff, returned to the Benton Foundation. In the past month or so, departures continued. Scott Deutchman, deputy for telecom policy, joined Neustar. And Phil Weiser, who also oversaw tech and telecom issues, returned to the University of Colorado Law School.

NAACP: Networks Need African American Anchors

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) says it is going to set up meetings with the heads of the news networks to discuss the lack of African American anchors.

That was triggered by the announcement of CNN's new prime time lineup, which also is lacking, said NAACP. "The NAACP is deeply concerned with the lack of African American journalists in prime time news, both on cable and national network news shows, said NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous. "In the spirit of award-winning African American journalists, from W.E.B. Dubois to Ed Bradley, the NAACP feels it is critical to bring this disparity, and the broader trend reflected in the overall lack of people of color as prime time news anchors, to the attention of the top officials at all of the major broadcast and cable news stations."

Recap: The Views of the Independent Agencies on Regulatory Reform

The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on July 7, 2011 on independent federal agency regulatory reform.

Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) said he is committed to making sure the goals of President Barack Obama's Executive Order 13563 are achieved. The Executive Order states that agencies must take into account the costs and benefits of proposed regulations; use the least burdensome methods to achieve regulatory goals; maximize net benefits; and evaluate alternatives to direct regulation. The Order also requires agencies to conduct periodic reviews of significant regulations to determine whether they are outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome.

The hearing was held to ask the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to explain why they did not submit a regulatory review plan to Cass Sunstein by May 18, as they were asked to do. While each of these agencies engages in some degree of regulatory review, none of them conduct the kind of top to bottom, regular retrospective review that will help to unburden our economy.

Chairman Stearns said that in drafting both the Communications and Telecommunications Acts, Congress emphasized the importance of deregulation. The FCC is required to review its telecommunications regulations every two years and its media ownership rules every four years. But these reviews fall short of what the President and this Committee have asked agencies to do. They only cover a narrow set of rules at the FCC and the Commission can't seem to get them done on time. Moreover, the Commission hasn't repealed or modified any significant regulations in recent review periods. Perhaps that’s because the Commission is too busy taking conclusion driven actions, such as the Net Neutrality order and the Chairman’s Section 706 report.

Although FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski did not appear before the Subcommittee, he did submit a written statement noting that since he too office the FCC has:

Eliminated more than 50 outdated regulations (far more than it has adopted); the Commission’s deregulatory initiatives include several major reforms, some already adopted and others proposed, to remove regulatory restrictions on spectrum use, such as increasing flexibility in terrestrial and satellite spectrum bands (including the WCS and MSS spectrum bands, and wireless backhaul) as well as spectrum for unlicensed use (white spaces);
Identified 25 sets of data collections from industry that are no longer necessary and we are moving to eliminate them;
Reduced Commission backlogs, including an 89% reduction in satellite licensing applications and a 30% reduction in broadcast licensing applications; and
Streamlined compliance processes – for example, by reducing the burden on radio stations, by eliminating some technical filings previously required with renewal applications.

He noted that these and other reforms have built on suggestions from his fellow FCC commissioners, and that over 95% of FCC decisions are bipartisan.

He also noted a number of FCC process reforms enacted since he became Chairman:

Increasing the number of Notices of Proposed Rulemakings (NPRMs) that contained the text of proposed rules from 38% before his appointment to 85%;
Significantly reducing the time between the vote on a Commission decision and its release, from an average release time of 14 calendar days before his appointment to just 3 calendar days, with a majority released within 1 calendar day;
Ensuring that comment periods strike a healthy balance between expeditious decision-making and full stakeholder input; and
Increasing transparency of agency decision-making by reforming our ex parte rules and docketing more proceedings to improve the information all interested parties receive and to produce a better record for Commission decision-making.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell did testify at the hearing. He focused his remarks on 2) the FCC's authority to deregulate, 2) examples of ongoing proceedings that propose streamlining various regulations, 3) examples of regulations ripe to repealed and 4) his suggested next steps. He said:
all future FCC regulatory proceedings should start with a thorough market analysis that assesses the state of competition in a sober and clear-eyed manner,
the FCC should view its statutory mission through a deregulatory lens, as Congress intended

Technology can both improve and hinder family relationships, survey says

Cambridge University has released a report on how information and communication technology affects family life. The study analyzed questionnaires from 1,000 families each in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and China. The conclusion: Technology can both improve and hinder family relationships.

That sounds vague, but there is something to learn from the study about how to manage technology to keep a happy home. First, some interesting findings: In the U.K., U.S. and Australia, most survey respondents preferred to communicate face to face — without technology. But in China less than 50% of those surveyed preferred to communicate face to face, with respondents choosing text messaging as a clear second choice. Another subtle but interesting point: Families surveyed across all four countries universally agreed that new information and communication technology such as Facebook, Skype, instant messaging and email have improved relationships with extended family that don't live close by. Where the negative effect seems to take place is at home, with the immediate family.

Affiliate Heads Fill in Hill on Spectrum ‘Essentials'

The heads of the Big Four broadcast television network affiliate associations have given Congress a list of "essential safeguards" that should be in any spectrum incentive auctions legislation, which is teed up in both the House and Senate. The Federal Communications Commission and White House want to auction reclaimed broadcast spectrum to provide more spectrum real estate for wireless broadband.

In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the affiliate chiefs said that repacking stations to make room for wireless broadband is involuntary, and while they do not oppose involuntary incentive auctions, the involuntary part must be mitigated, and broadcasters "held harmless," the new lobbying term of art, by the following four provisions in any legislation:

the FCC should be required to replicate the existing service area and interference protections for any station repacked as part of the process.
broadcasters should not be moved involuntarily to an inferior band -- specifically VHF and particularly low VHF -- which could preclude new digital services. (FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has said there will be no forced moves from UHF to VHF).
the FCC should be permitted to conduct only one incentive auction of broadcast spectrum.
broadcasters should be reimbursed for any costs incurred in the move, both by stations moving and those affected by the moves.

Cell phones, devices biggest driving distractions

Driving distractions, primarily by cell phones and other electronic devices, are associated with up to 25 percent of U.S. car crashes, according to a new Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) study.

The report shows that drivers are distracted up to half the time and that crashes caused by distractions range from minor damage to fatal injury. Cell phone use raises the risk of crashing, but texting is likely to increase crash risk more than cell phone use. "Despite all that has been written about driver distraction, there is still a lot that we do not know," GHSA executive director Barbara Harsha said.

Powell Pushes Marketplace As Video Uniter

As the Federal Communications Commission contemplates whether and how to spur the creation of a universal gateway for traditional and Web video content -- per its open AllVid proceeding -- as well as spur a retail set-top market, cable operators continue to argue that the marketplace can handle, and is handling, the heavy lifting on both those fronts.

In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Michael Powell cited the recent National Show in Chicago, and Genachowski's firsthand witnessing of the innovations there to argue that "Congress and the Commission's video device goals are already being achieved in the marketplace." Powell said he shares the Chairman's goal of "a fully competitive" retail set-top marketplace. Powell said the cable industry is committed to open web standards and technologies driven by innovation and user preferences and managed to protect content and customer privacy. All that, he suggested, is achievable and being achieved "without regulation or the need for technology mandates."

Town Hall Tweets Did Reflect Tweeting Public... Sort of...

Journalists really are different from people, as a latter-day Fitzgerald might have said. Or at least different from Tweeple.

A Boston Globe study of questions Tweeted in advance of President Obama's first Twitter town hall found substantial differences from questions asked by journalists during the president's last few news conferences. Tweeters were more narrowly focused on issues such as job creation and the federal deficit, asking questions with keywords such as "jobs," "employment," "deficit," and "debt," while journalists spent more time on the political process, asking questions with keywords such as "Congress," "capitol hill," "meeting," and "negotiation." A Nextgov review of the 18 questions asked during the live event found a closer correlation with Tweeter keywords identified by the Globe than journalist keywords. Four out of 18 questions asked during the event, or 22 percent, mentioned "jobs," significantly higher than the full Tweeter rate of 12 percent. Only one question, or 6 percent of the total, used a keyword referencing partisan politics, in this case "Republicans." That was the highest ranking category among journalists' questions in the Globe study, at 24 percent, but near the lowest among Tweeters, ranking at 2 percent of questions.

IG: Homeland Security system flaws stymie ability to secure cyberspace

A federal inspection has uncovered weaknesses in Homeland Security Department systems that house information regarding critical US networks. In the United States, DHS is responsible for securing cyberspace.

The June review, which was distributed in redacted form late Wednesday, examined the safeguards for two department systems that contain sensitive data about vital U.S. networks and infrastructure. Specifically, the "protected critical infrastructure information," or PCII, systems store security reviews of critical, nonfederal networks and structures that companies and local governments voluntarily supply. Ordinarily, the information would not be accessible to federal authorities. Officials at all levels of government read the information to learn how to better secure the nation's critical infrastructure. "Configuration and account access vulnerabilities identified on the [two] systems must be mitigated to manage and secure the systems and PCII data from the risks associated with internal and external threats, unauthorized access and misuse," Frank W. Deffer, assistant inspector general for information technology audits, wrote in the report.

Google antitrust probe could bring out enemies

Google’s friends in Silicon Valley have sometimes morphed into enemies overnight when the search giant appeared to change course and venture into their lines of business — from mobile phones to social networking. Think Apple and Facebook, to name just two. In modern lingo, you might call them corporate “frenemies.” And now that the Federal Trade Commission has officially launched an antitrust probe into Google’s competitive behavior, Valley watchers are wondering which companies will offer up evidence for or against one of its own.

“Silicon Valley doesn't like to turn to Washington as a weapon or a shield in part because once regulators are involved, who knows where they will end up,” said Eric Goldman, an associate law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and director of the school’s High Tech Law Institute. “We can't control it.” Among technology partners and competitors, Google is viewed with a mixture of awe, fear and anger. The company was a startup founded by two Stanford University students only a dozen or so years ago. But these days, entrepreneurs eager to do business with Google think twice before telling the company about their new ideas. Competitors say they have to be vigilant or else lose their markets while they rely on Google to direct business to their doors.

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