August 2015

The Homeland Security Department said in an official letter that a cyberinformation-sharing bill under consideration in the Senate would be detrimental to Americans' privacy and the country's cybersecurity. The agency said a provision in the bill that authorizes the private sector to share cyberthreat information with any federal agency would "increase the complexity and difficulty of a new information sharing program" and "sweep away important privacy protections." DHS Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who signed the letter, also wrote that distributing information across many agencies would mean the "inefficiency of any information sharing program will markedly increase; developing a single, comprehensive picture of the range of cyberthreats faced daily will become more difficult.

"The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act passed out of the Senate Intelligence Committee nearly unanimously in March, but some lawmakers have since raised questions about its privacy protections and efficiency. Supporters on both sides of the aisle say it will facilitate cyberthreat sharing between the private sector and the government, thereby making it easier for both to detect and shut down online intrusions. The letter, a response to a request for information from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), was sent on July 31 and released by Sen Franken's office Aug 3.

Add New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to the list of those opposing the Federal Communications Commission placing TV stations in the so-called duplex gap (buffer between downlink and uplink spectrum) in the repack of stations following the broadcast incentive auction. The FCC is proposing putting a handful of stations in that gap, where it is also placing wireless microphones and other unlicensed devices, as a way to insure it can free up sufficient contiguous spectrum in the incentive auction, but broadcasters, wireless companies and others, not including Mayor Bill de Blasio , have pushed back.

In a letter to the FCC, Maya Wiley, counsel to the mayor, said that she was writing on behalf of the mayor to say that putting TV stations in the duplex gap in New York would "inhibit live broadcast production in major urban areas, complicate the use of microphones in live theater, and deprive millions of Americans of the full benefit of next generation Wi-Fi technologies..." The FCC has indicated that New York is likely to be one of the handful of affected stations. Wiley cited broadcaster concerns in the letter: "We urge you to consider the important concerns raised by a diverse coalition of broadcasters, tech companies, and consumer advocates and preserve the duplex gap for unlicensed and wireless microphone use. " The FCC is scheduled to vote Aug. 6 on the proposal to allow some stations to be repacked into the duplex gap, but it is a hot-button issue that helped push a planned July 16 vote on that and other spectrum issues to August.

[Commentary] Horror movies are famous for their deceptive "false victories" -- in which everyone thinks the bad guy has been defeated and the heroes are safe, and then the villain bursts out of nowhere and the chase is on again. It's a good analogy for politics, where no victory is ever truly secure and every bit of progress must be constantly defended. Supporters of net neutrality face this reality right now.

After a hard-fought effort in 2014, pushed over the finish line by the president of the United States himself, net neutrality proponents celebrated when the Federal Communications Commission passed sweeping new rules in February. But like our movie heroes prematurely letting out their sighs of relief, these net neutrality optimists are in for a very rude awakening. The fight for Internet openness is far from over -- and the new FCC rules that many have already chalked up as a win are actually almost certain to be overturned in court. Seven different lawsuits challenging the FCC rules already have been filed. Those who care about the open Internet need to re-cork the champagne and get to work urging Congress to shore up these rules right away. For those who care about net neutrality, there is only one way to cure these legal defects and survive the coming onslaught in court. Congress must pass legislation to make the core open Internet protections permanent. Legislation would make the entire conflict over "information services" vs. "telecommunications" irrelevant -- those classifications apply to the FCC, not Congress -- and put the rules on the strongest possible legal footing. A law of this kind could be immune to challenge. There is growing interest in both parties in legislation along these lines, shoring up net neutrality while jettisoning the legally suspect "reclassification" approach. And anyone who cares about long-term protection for the open Internet should urge them to do so quickly before the courts strike down a victory many worked so hard to win.

[David Balto served as policy director at the Federal Trade Commission]

Of the six major cities where gigabit service already has been deployed, Chattanooga (TN) has had gigabit service for the longest. Local power company EPB, which owns the network, launched gigabit service there in 2009. And to this day, Chattanooga is the only city whose offering extends citywide. That makes the market a kind of bellwether for gauging the impact of gigabit service – and judging by what Telecompetitor saw at a press event that was organized by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, the results there bode well for the gigabit movement.

Chattanooga has experienced the third highest wage growth of all mid-size US cities and has added many high-tech jobs paying an average of $69,000 a year, noted Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke. Charles Wood, vice president of economic development for the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, notes that some companies make the decision to locate in Chattanooga because of an indirect benefit of the city’s fiber infrastructure: The fiber network also supports the city’s smart grid infrastructure -- and according to EPB, that infrastructure enables the company to restore service to most customers within just a few minutes, an improvement that can be measured in days over what the company experienced previously. That capability has strong appeal for financial firms or other companies that can lose hundreds of thousands of dollars for every minute power is out, noted Wood. Chattanooga’s experience should be good news for other communities considering a gigabit deployment, as it suggest that the secondary impact of gigabit may be stronger than expected.