May 2014

Rep Issa: Don’t sell off airwaves for short-term gains

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) said he is tired of selling off public airwaves only to fund a pork-barrel project or make a tiny dent in the deficit.

Selling off chunks of the spectrum to make a little short-term cash, he said, would be like selling off pieces of the Mississippi River or the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

“Public assets for the public good have never been before sold in the way that we deal with spectrum,” he said at a conference pushing for more unlicensed spectrum, which allows Wi-Fi systems and devices like garage door openers to operate.

In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission is planning to buy back chunks of the airwaves currently owned by broadcasters and resell them to wireless companies, which need the spectrum to offer high-speed Web access for consumers’ phones and tablets. Most of the airwaves will be allocated for specific companies, but the FCC will reserve some for unlicensed use to support Wi-Fi and other services. Just how much of the spectrum is unlicensed depends on how much broadcasters sell back to the government.

Moonves Pitches FCC's Wheeler On Maintaining Retransmission Regime

On the eve of the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, CBS president and CEO Les Moonves stopped by the Federal Communications Commission to meet with Chairman Tom Wheeler about a variety of issues, including why the FCC should not tinker with retransmission.

According to an ex parte notice submitted by CBS lawyers, Moonves, who has led CBS' aggressive charge to charge cable operators for its high-value content, urged the chairman to "maintain the current regime." He argued that the retransmission second revenue stream was critical to CBS' ability to continue to produce sports and entertainment and news.

Chairman Wheeler has tied his retransmission reform efforts, which include disallowing some coordinated negotiations and asking whether syndicated exclusivity and network nonduplication rules should be eliminated, to the size of consumer's cable bills. But Moonves said that given the size of its audience, CBS stations and affiliates "deserve the highest fees they can negotiate in the marketplace."

CFO: Verizon 300 Mbps Wi-Fi Coming Soon

Verizon plans to offer an in-home router that will support Wi-Fi connectivity at speeds up to 300 Mbps beginning this summer, said Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo.

The device supporting Verizon 300 Mbps Wi-Fi is proprietary, Shammo said, and is expected to drive increases in subscriber broadband speeds as end users consume more bandwidth within the home.

Verizon also plans to phase out set-top boxes, Shammo said. Beginning this summer, the company will provide video customers with a single video media server per home and will distribute video content in IP format.

“We will deliver everything through IP to FiOS,” said Shammo. Customers “won’t need a set-top box,” he said. “For televisions that are not IP capable, we will have an attachment.”

The new approach will cut installation time 50%, Shammo said. Installers will attach the media server to the optical network terminal and won’t have to test coaxial cables, he noted.

Public Record from IMLS Hearing on Libraries and Broadband Released

On April 17, the Institute of Museum and Library Services convened the first public hearing it has ever held. We chose this moment because it is full of potential: Tom Wheeler, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman, is working to modernize the E-rate, an important source of telecommunications discounts for libraries and schools.

And, considering the analysis of FCC data that IMLS released just prior to the hearing, this moment is perhaps of even greater importance than many of us may had realized. More than 90 percent of public libraries, a total of 15,551 individual libraries, have used the discounts provided by the E-rate.

Chairman Wheeler was the first speaker; he pronounced that, “We’re moving from supporting 20th Century technology to 21st Century high-speed broadband technology. It’s not just the external connection but it’s how do you get Wi-Fi to the individual in the library.”

He was followed by Tom Power, deputy chief technology officer for Telecommunications, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Our first panel examined what’s working and made a clear statement about the role of libraries in creating opportunity. The second panel focused on data and demonstrated that broadband speeds in libraries, even when they get faster, are deemed insufficient to meet current and future needs. The third panel focused on solutions. Omaha Public Library System Executive Director Gary Wasdin kicked off the panel calling libraries the “technology incubators” for cities.

Following the third panel, former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt provided summary remarks.

Can the Internet make TV less boring?

TV shows -- now routinely even good ones -- have been debuting on the web, and advertisers and producers all want to understand how they can be a part of it before they miss the boat.

Advertisers don't always mind less exciting series, so long as the demographics and numbers all add up. Many say they're just happy to see that companies like AOL and Yahoo are willing to put big money on shows and attract big talent. But the general consensus is that there's still a bundle of potential for connected platforms that few are trying to tap into yet.

Changing Channels: Americans View Just 17 Channels Despite Record Number To Choose From

According to Nielsen’s forthcoming Advertising & Audiences Report, the average US TV home now receives 189 TV channels -- a record high and significant jump since 2008, when the average home received 129 channels.

Despite this increase, however, consumers have consistently tuned in to an average of just 17 channels.

This data is significant in that it substantiates the notion that more content does not necessarily equate to more channel consumption. And that means quality is imperative -- for both content creators and advertisers. So the best way to reach consumers in a world with myriad options is to be the best option.

Click Here to End Hate: Anti-Muslim Bigotry Online & How to Take Action

In a new report, Muslim Advocates exposes the breadth of anti-Muslim bigotry online, explains the law and corporate policies that regulate content on the Internet, and empowers individuals with the tools necessary to effectively respond to hate online.

Click Here to End Hate not only gives examples of offensive online content, but also sheds light on the legal considerations surrounding hate speech and what social media companies are doing about it. The report also serves as a guide for individuals who want to push back with reporting mechanisms built into social media platforms and by engaging in counterspeech.

How George Washington University is shaping a piece of Google’s smartphone future

In the labs of George Washington University, students are laboring in labs covered in black-and-white dotted paper, puzzling out how to make a machine that understands images like the human brain.

It’s a question that Google is trying to tackle in typical Silicon Valley fashion with Project Tango, a smartphone that will use its sensors to map the environment around its users in real time. But this research isn't restricted to the secret labs of West Coast tech giants.

A piece of it is happening right here in Washington. The vision for Tango is to make a phone that can not only recognize places -- so you can, for example, navigate within a store to find a product on a shelf -- but also potentially tap into large-scale 3-D maps to help the phone better understand the scene. Think of it as more detailed version of Google Maps.

In a mall, a Tango phone could direct you to the nearest restroom by using a meaningful 3-D map of the mall. (Google hasn’t said when the phone could be released.) At George Washington, the scientists have been helping Google deal with the basics: getting the phone to understand its own sensors and the images it sees to understand how what its sensing matches up with what it expects.

Ownership of personal data still appears up for grabs

[Commentary] Your personal information is yours. Yet that simple idea, which should serve as the basis of all privacy-related laws and regulations in the United States, seems to have eluded those who profess to be the guardians of consumer data.

The White House reiterated its call for greater protection of people's personal info -- two years after proposing a "privacy bill of rights" that went nowhere in Congress.

A new report, written by a group led by White House counselor John Podesta, says that "big data" -- the various entities that benefit from knowing all there is to know about you -- is growing out of control. We're talking about sensors in our homes, cities, wearable devices, that collect and share information about our surroundings, our behavior, our health and our whereabouts.

His report suggests some modest legislative changes, along with "voluntary, enforceable codes of conduct" for businesses and government agencies to keep consumer data from being abused or getting into the wrong hands. I don't know. Seems to me that if sensors everywhere is the problem, voluntary codes of conduct aren't the solution.

Moreover, while the report addresses the ease with which people's information can be collected, crunched and put to use, it fails to adequately convey the sense of violation that comes with businesses and government officials knowing your habits, behavior and activities.

The report says that "we must ensure that effective consumer privacy protections are in place to protect individuals." But it stops short of doing anything about it, such as requiring that private companies disclose to consumers what they know about them. The report also recommends that US privacy safeguards be extended to non-US citizens "because privacy is a worldwide value." This is apparently a bone being thrown to European businesses and governments.

Europeans enjoy far more robust privacy protections than Americans and have long complained that their data are unfairly exploited by US companies. The White House wants Europeans to know that we feel their pain. But that's not good enough. The Europeans have it right: They begin any discussion of data use with an acknowledgment that all people have a right to privacy -- a right that's only implied, not spelled out, in US law.

FCC must set strong net neutrality rules to protect innovation

[Commentary] It is imperative that all Americans have access to a truly free and open Internet. I strongly support network neutrality.

Network neutrality is about preserving a free and open Internet ecosystem, where consumers can access new products and ideas, and have an open market for new innovations. There should be no “gatekeepers,” or toll roads. More important, it’s about the idea that anyone can use the Internet to make his or her voice heard.

Allowing deals for prioritization could easily be used to favor some content at the expense of others and be used as a barrier to entry for a small startup without the resources to buy access to an Internet fast lane.

I agree that we need open Internet rules that encourage companies to compete for customers without striking special deals. I am hopeful the FCC will propose a set of rules that will truly preserve an open and free Internet that spurs innovation and protects consumers.

All Americans that care about the future of the open Internet should share their views with the FCC. The agency needs to hear from you about why the Internet must remain a platform for innovation and free expression.

Benton

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