February 2012

Verizon’s wireless, marketing deal with cable firms to be considered at Senate hearing

A key Senate Judiciary Committee member said he is planning a hearing on Verizon’s spectrum purchase deal with cable companies that includes a controversial marketing arrangement.

Sen Herb Kohl (D-WI) -- chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights subcommittee -- said the hearing will include a review of a cross-marketing agreement between Verizon Wireless and cable firms including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House. “Plans are well underway for a hearing to examine the impact of Verizon’s spectrum purchase from a number of cable companies and a separate marketing agreement to cross-sell each other’s products,” Chairman Kohl said. “The subcommittee carefully examines questions about competition in the wireless and video markets, with the ultimate goal of protecting consumers and reducing their cable and cell phone bills, and these deals are no exception.”

The hearing will likely take place after Feb. 23, the end of the Presidents’ Day recess. The panel hasn’t yet decided on witnesses.

Verizon, Comcast double team AT&T in Bay Area battle

Regulators haven’t yet approved Comcast’s spectrum sale to Verizon Wireless, but the two aren’t waiting to cement their newfound friendship.

The country’s largest mobile operator and largest cable provider are bringing their “quadruple play” service to San Francisco and the Bay Area. In its early stages the partnership is more a co-marketing arrangement than a full-bore integration of services. Verizon and Comcast will try to entice Bay Area residents to simultaneously sign up for a mobile phone plan and a combination of Xfinity home broadband, TV and voice services. In exchange, they’re offering those customers a free smartphone — or at least a $100 to $300 Visa prepaid card with which to buy one. But Verizon and Comcast plan to get much closer in the future.

Social media’s role in politics

[Commentary] You’ve read how Facebook and Twitter fueled the Arab Spring uprising. You are watching the videos coming out of Syria on Facebook. But most likely you have not witnessed the power of social media impacting politics in near real time right here at home in America. Sure, activism groups and politicians have tapped social media to raise money. But to date, no flash mob has ever stopped a bill in its tracks or beaten down in less than 48-hours legislation pushed by some of the most well-funded, well-connected lobbies on K Street. But that’s exactly what happened on Jan. 20 when a loosely organized campaign to stop PIPA and SOPA swept the Internet and shook the power structure of Washington DC.

As a result, we have entered an entirely new and exciting era of politics.

First, a countervailing force may finally be at play to balance the impact of the Supreme Court decision making it easy for multi-million dollar SuperPACs to anonymously raise funds and lob attack ads in campaigns. The public can now use social media to have its say.
Second, this was the first time we have seen a widely executed collective action by Silicon Valley.
Lastly, although social media has been widely adopted, social media as a protest tools remains lodged squarely among the early adopters.

Record industry tells Congress to oppose Issa piracy bill

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) pressed lawmakers to oppose an online piracy bill offered by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) as an alternative to controversial legislation shelved by Congress last month.

The recording industry argues the Issa-Wyden bill should be scrapped because it would do nothing to stop online piracy and could even make the problem worse. RIAA's document outlines a number of concerns about the bill, labeling its standards "impossibly high" and "useless." "Even a site that openly acknowledges it is entirely composed of illegal material is exempt, as long as the material is added or used by others and not the site owner or operator," states the document. "This excuses willful blindness and outright complicity in illegal activity. In addition, anyone who takes down one illegal file is immune, even if it’s simply reposted minutes later."

Broadcasters Must Wise Up About Smart TV

At last month's Consumer Electronic Show, three technologies showed significant progress: connected TV, smart TV and TV Everywhere. It's likely the three will converge. If so, they’ll arrive in one massive wave that could completely disrupt the way people watch TV — and threaten the way broadcasters do business. Broadcasters must figure out how to catch the wave.

Cybersecurity Disaster Seen in US Survey Citing Spending Gaps

Companies including utilities, banks and phone carriers would have to spend almost nine times more on cybersecurity to prevent a digital Pearl Harbor from plunging millions into darkness, paralyzing the financial system or cutting communications, a Bloomberg Government study found.

Spies, criminals and hacker-activists are stepping up assaults on U.S. government and corporate systems, spurring efforts by Congress and President Barack Obama to shield infrastructure essential to U.S. national and economic security, such as power grids and water-treatment plants. Hardening those systems would require a significant investment given the increasing stealth and sophistication of hackers, according to Lawrence Ponemon, chairman of the Ponemon Institute.

Political borders don't stop cyberattacks, but they prevent defense, study finds

Cyberspace is a global commons without international boundaries, but the political divisions of the real world hamper the defense of this shared resource, according to a new study of government and private sector IT officials.

There is a lack of common standards of behavior, goals and even language in discussing the challenges faced in cyberspace, according to the Cyber Defense Report released Jan. 30 by McAfee. As a result, threats are growing faster than the ability to counter them because of barriers to information sharing and cooperation that do not constrain our adversaries. “We are really up against a formidable enemy that can execute,” said Phyllis Schneck, chief technology officer of McAfee’s Global Public Sector and a contributor to the report. “We’ve made a lot of progress, but our enemies are a lot better and faster than we are.”

Digital Learning Day Town Hall

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Genachowski joined Secretary of Education Duncan to discuss the state of digital learning in American schools.

At the first-ever in Washington, D.C., the Digital Textbook Collaborative presented them with the “Digital Textbook Playbook,” a plan to help K-12 schools transition to digital textbooks. The Collaborative also helped the FCC and the Department of Education update the School 2.0 bandwidth planner to help schools plan for their connectivity needs. Chairman Genachowski also challenged state leaders and the digital textbook industry ecosystem to make national adoption of digital textbook a reality; he announced a meeting in March 2012 with CEOs of companies in the digital learning space to drive national adoption of digital textbooks in the next five years.

Advanced Digital Literacy – Opportunities for All Skill Levels

When discussing digital literacy, most conversations center around people’s initial contact with computers and learning how the Internet is relevant to their lives; the basics on how to obtain information, goods, and services online; and developing the threshold skills necessary to succeed in the digital economy. These basic skills are building blocks for success, and are the focus of many of our Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) projects.

Digital literacy is an ongoing process, however, and “advanced” digital literacy can have tremendous economic impacts – both from the perspective of the person learning marketable computer skills necessary to compete in today’s digital economy, and from the macroeconomic perspective in helping to realize the President’s vision of a more competitive America built to last.

Codecademy is taking advanced digital literacy to the next level by offering free interactive programming lessons for those interested in learning the basics of computer programming online. Codecademy’s Code Year initiative offers free weekly coding lessons only for a time investment of approximately five hours per week. Students will learn extremely marketable skills such as how to build apps and websites. These skills foster entrepreneurship and enhance employability. Codecademy is also participating in the Administration’s Summer Jobs+ program, where it will offer a course called Code Summer+, which is an abbreviated version of Code Year tailored to teaching low-income youth how to build innovative apps online and helping to connect students with tech companies.

Net Sales Tax Supporters Hope For More GOP Support

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) says he's working with other supporters to attract more Republican co-sponsors for legislation that would require online retailers to collect sales taxes in states where they have no store or other facility.

Sen Durbin said that he would like to see more GOP backers for the bill to help attract the 60 votes needed on the Senate floor to overcome a likely filibuster of the legislation. Sen Durbin is the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the legislation offered with Sens. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN). The bill aims to close a loophole left by a 1992 Supreme Court decision that found states cannot require retailers to collect sales taxes from customers in states where the companies do not have a physical presence. At the time, the case applied to catalog retailers but has since been exploited by Internet retailers.

Benton

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