April 2014

Advancing ICT Accessibility With ITU

Following a meeting in February 2007, International Telecommunication Union and the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and a non-governmental organization called Communication Technologies (G3ict) entered into a cooperation that has since flourished beyond expectation and delivered essential tools in support of policy makers and advocacy organizations around the world, including:

The production of a global benchmarking on the implementation and promotion of the ICT accessibility dispositions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD);
Mapping the work of standards-developing organizations (SDOs) on ICT accessibility within the framework of the dispositions of the CRPD;
The development of an “e-Accessibility Policy Toolkit for Persons with Disabilities” in 2009, which mobilized more than 62 expert editors from around the world. Since inception, more than 70,000 unique visitors have used the Toolkit which is widely referenced around the world by regulators and policy makers.
The publication of Joint reports, such as “Making Television Accessible” (2011) and “Making Mobile Phones and Services Accessible for Persons with Disabilities” (2012) published jointly by ITU’s Development Sector (ITU-D) and G3ict;
Collaboration at the annual M-Enabling Summit, held every year in Washington, DC. The M-Enabling Summit has established itself as the leading global forum for innovation in mobile accessibility and mobile assistive solutions for seniors and persons with disabilities.
The advocacy work at the UN level, such as the work conducted in 2013 for the 2014 High Level Meeting on Disability and Development which led to the publication of a report titled “The ICT Opportunity for a Disability-Inclusive Development Framework”, a joint initiative of ITU, UNESCO, G3ict, Microsoft, the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the Telecentre.org Foundation, which advocated for the incorporation of ICT accessibility into the UN post-2015 Development Agenda.
The elaboration of a set of Model ICT Accessibility policies, a new initiative being developed with ITU-D. These model policies, being written by consultants under the joint supervision of ITU-D and G3ict, will provide a much-needed set of practical guidelines for the implementation of the dispositions of the CRPD, based on success factors and good practices observed around the world.

[Leblois serves on the Board of Directors of USICD, US International Council on Disabilities, and GAATES, Global Alliance on Accessible Technologies and Environments]

Rural Telecommunications Congress Members Release Report on 50 State Broadband Initiative Entities

Members of the Rural Telecommunications Congress released a comprehensive report on the state of the 50 State Broadband Initiative entities.

The report assembles data about the programs of the governmental and non-profit entities that have been engaged in broadband mapping and planning over the past five years. Among the questions that the report seeks to address, for each of the 50 states, are the following:

[Is there an] ongoing State BB Leadership Org or Council to Coordinate with Rural BB Champions and Providers ?
Is the State BB Map Identifying deficit areas per identified standard available for use by the public and Policy makers?
Are State and Regional BB Plans created and being widely used?
Is there a Separate State BB PPO for Financing, Bonding & Grants in Deficit areas?
Are there State Funding Programs for Matching [dollars] and for Financing grants/loans to Political subs & Providers?
Is Formal Coordination taking place with State PUC to reduce Regulatory barriers for providers?
Is there adequate Collaboration W/ Rural political sub-divisions on ROW issues and for Aggregation of Demand for Providers?
Is there Formal State Collaboration with Health & Education Institutions (USF LEA’s) to optimize Federal Communications Commission subsidies?
Are there Sustainable Infrastructure Programs directed at Unserved and Underserved through a State USF fee?
Is there frequent Legislative Collaboration for BB Policy Initiatives and Program Leadership Funding?

Why Big Media Won’t Stand Up To Comcast

[Commentary] If there is one thing to take away from Comcast’s appearance before a Senate panel to defend its $45.2 billion merger with Time Warner Cable it is this: Not one of the biggest TV network operators in the country testified.

Not CBS or Viacom, both controlled by billionaire mogul Sumner Redstone. Not 21st Century Fox, owned by billionaire mogul Rupert Murdoch (Sensing a theme here?) Not Time Warner. Not Disney. Not Discovery. None of these companies had anything to say about a merger that will hand Comcast control of roughly 30% of the nation’s television homes and 19 of top 20 markets.

We already knew NBC Universal wouldn’t have an opinion about the merger since Comcast already owns that company. But the silence of the other companies, which collectively are worth $360.2 billion, said more than any of their testimony ever could. And what the collective said boils down to this: Don’t bite the hand that pays you.

Telecom Italia Reaches Internet-TV Deal With Sky

Telecom Italia, the country’s largest phone company, is teaming with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Italia for an Internet-television service to attract broadband subscriptions, giving consumers an alternative to satellite TV.

Starting in 2015, Telecom Italia clients with a My Sky HD decoder will have access to all of Sky’s TV programs over the Web, the companies said in a joint statement. Sky offers about 180 channels and programs including Formula 1, MotoGP and soccer’s Champions League. Telecom Italia’s mobile-phone customers can also watch Sky TG24 all-news channel on their smartphones and tablets.

Telecom Italia Chief Executive Officer Marco Patuano, accelerating his efforts to revive the indebted former phone monopoly, is adding services in a bid to boost phone bills as competition hurts margins in Italy’s saturated market. A broadband pay-TV service may shake up the Italian TV and video market -- the country doesn’t have major cable carriers. “Phone carriers need to enter the game of entertainment to renew their business,” said Francesco Siliato, a professor who specializes in media and telecommunications at Milan’s Politecnico University. “At the same time, TV broadcasters need new partners to spread out contents via the Internet.”

T-Mobile Introduces Mobile Plan With No Overage Fees

T-Mobile US introduced a mobile-phone plan that will prevent users from exceeding their data limits and incurring extra charges.

For $40 a month, a customer can get as much as 500 megabytes of fourth-generation LTE data service, along with unlimited talk and text messages, T-Mobile said on its website. The Simple Starter plan, which starts April 12 and doesn’t require an annual contract, won’t charge overage fees because customers won’t be able to use more than their data allotment. Instead, they will be prompted to pay more if they want additional access.

Chief Executive Officer John Legere said the plan is designed to be a “predictable, affordable solution” for new, price-sensitive customers. “People shopping at the $40 level want to pay that amount, not get surprised with overage charges,” said Mike Sievert, chief marketing officer of Bellevue, Washington-based T-Mobile. A customer who reaches the 500-megabyte limit and wants additional data allotments would pay $10 for an extra gigabyte, Sievert said.

How to Misuse American Customer Satisfaction Index Data to Try to Block a Merger

[Commentary] Opponents of the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger have scrambled to show that companies with larger market shares will hurt consumers, proposing theories built around flawed assumptions.

One metric that they have stumbled upon is data from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index, which gives Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and other television and Internet service providers low scores as compared to other industries.

First, the ACSI data actually shows that providing reliable, high-quality Internet and television services across a national network is much more difficult than taking a hamburger order or shipping products bought online. Where a lot can go wrong, much of it beyond the control of the provider, it’s tough to keep customers happy.

Second, greater size does not equal poorer service. Even though the British marketplace contains more competitors, UK television and Internet providers get scores just as low in comparison to other British industries and US TV and Internet providers. The similarity in the US and UK scores is striking, and the fact that UK ISP scores are similar, even with type of wholesale ‘open access’ regime cable critics long for, is a key point. What drags down scores for both Internet and TV providers are scores for call centers and web-pages.

Finally, ACSI data shows that broadband and TV providers are steadily improving. Ratings for the pay-tv industry as a whole grew 3 percentage points from 2012 to 2013 (ratings from 2012 for Internet providers were not available). Constraining Comcast and Time Warner Cable from utilizing economies of scale to lower costs for consumers will not magically make automated call centers more fun to navigate.

Google Is Cutting Deals With Wireless Carriers Everywhere So People Can Pay For Apps And Downloads On Their Phone Bills

It makes a lot of sense for smartphone users to be able to add the cost of their app or music downloads to their monthly phone bill.

This method of payment is known as "carrier billing." While some app stores, notably Apple's App Store, shun it, others have embraced it.

Google has been smart in recognizing that people would find this method of payment convenient, and has moved aggressively to broker deals with wireless carriers across Europe, East Asia, and North America to make carrier billing possible on Android devices.

At last count, Android users in 21 countries can pay for Google Play goods on their phone bills: apps, music downloads, and in-app purchases.

Need Wi-Fi access? Just reach out and touch your router

Networking devices that don’t have conventional user interfaces is one of the bigger barriers to realizing the Internet of Things.

To make that process easier, the Wi-Fi Alliance has added support for NFC (near-field communication) technology to its WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) security standard. Instead of typing characters or pushing buttons, you'll soon be able to add an NFC device to your network by simply tapping it against your router. NFC is becoming ubiquitous in cell phones and tablets, but the Wi-Fi Alliance expects NFC setup to be even more useful for adding simpler devices -- everything from thermostats to household appliances -- to networks.

"You'll see it in handsets now, but what it really enables is devices that don't have a user interface," said Kelly Davis-Felner, vice president of marketing for the Wi-Fi Alliance. Since you can’t drag your refrigerator to your router, Davis-Felner explained that you’ll tap the NFC-capable smartphone you’ve already added to your network against the fridge.

Why I’m not worried about the mobile web

[Commentary] The analytics firm Flurry reported that mobile app usage in the US was higher than ever in the first quarter of 2014, accounting for 86 percent of the average mobile user’s time, or two hours and 19 minutes per day.

The mobile web accounted for just 14 percent of the average user’s time spent on mobile (22 minutes per day), down from 20 percent during the first quarter of 2013. Flurry’s data isn’t surprising, but the report generated some incendiary headlines. Forbes shouted that the mobile browser is dead, Business Insider echoed that claim, and BuzzFeed concluded that no one uses the mobile web anymore.

Perhaps the most thought-provoking piece was from entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist Chris Dixon, who said the “worrisome trend” is likely to relegate the web to a “niche product” used only for a few specific tasks. Dixon makes some great points, and his brief post is well worth a read. But there are a few important reasons I disagree with his conclusion:

Mobile apps often overlap with the mobile web.
The mobile web experience still stinks.
Web-friendly technologies will continue to improve.

Supreme Court weighing when online speech becomes illegal threat

When does an online threat become worthy of criminal prosecution? The Supreme Court is being asked to decide that unanswered question as prosecutions for online rants, from Facebook to YouTube, are becoming commonplace.

Authorities are routinely applying an old-world 1932 statute concerning extortion to today's online world, where words don't always mean what they seem. The latest case involving the legal parameters of online speech before the justices concerns a Pennsylvania man sentenced to 50 months in prison after being convicted on four counts of the interstate communication of threats. Defendant Anthony Elonis' 2010 Facebook rant concerned attacks on an elementary school, his estranged wife, and even law enforcement.

"That's it, I've had about enough/ I'm checking out and making a name for myself/ Enough elementary schools in a ten mile radius/ to initiate the most heinous school shooting ever imagined/ and hell hath no fury like a crazy man in a Kindergarten class/ the only question is … which one?" read one of Elonis' posts.

Whatever a so-called "true threat" is, it's not protected under the First Amendment. Whether online or not, other forms of speech that do not enjoy the backing of the constitution include child pornography and obscenity.

Only one federal appeals court has sided with Elonis' contention that the authorities must prove that the person who made the threat actually meant to carry it out. Eight other circuit courts of appeal, however, have ruled that the standard is whether a "reasonable person" would conclude the threat was real. The Obama Administration has until April 21 to respond to Elonis' petition to the Supreme Court.

Benton

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