1. Monthly archive
  2. February 2016

February 2016

Commissioner Pai Statement on the Successful Launch of the AM Revitalization Effort

The Federal Communications Commission’s AM Radio Revitalization Initiative is off to an incredibly strong start. On Jan 29, we opened a window for Class C and Class D AM stations to obtain FM translators and move them up to 250 miles. And in the first day alone, we received over 400 applications from AM stations. This means that almost one in ten AM stations in the country applied for an FM translator during the first 24 hours of the modification window.

These FM translators will help struggling AM broadcasters increase their audience and advertising revenue. They will also be a shortterm bridge as we address the AM band’s long-term technical problems. Given the strong demand for FM translators, the Media Bureau’s Audio Division has a lot of work ahead of it processing these applications. But I am confident that our talented staff will complete this task with their characteristic skill and professionalism.

Google wants to be the home of the 2016 election horse race

Google is doing all it can to make its search engine the fastest and best way to stay informed about the US presidential election. Starting Feb 1, the company will show presidential candidates' stances on topics like immigration, climate change, and economic policy in the form of quotes culled from news articles. Google Search will also give users a rundown of the up-to-date delegate count for each party.

The features are available when searching on Chrome with a smartphone, on the web, and within the Google mobile app. You can search broadly for a term like "Donald Trump issue stances" and get a rundown of the candidate and their stances, or you can specify what you're looking for with "Marco Rubio on immigration" to see a series of swipe-able cards designed to form a narrative around the person's opinions on the issue. To get specific caucus information, you can swap out the general "primary results" search for a phrase like "Iowa primary" to see a particular state. The company is also incorporating caucus results and voting reminders into Google Now cards.

The RIAA says streams will now count toward gold and platinum record certification

The Recording Industry Association of America announced it will now count streams when determining if a record qualifies for a gold or platinum certification. The RIAA has been bestowing albums with gold and platinum labels since 1958. Up until now, only album sales counted toward a gold or platinum certification, despite the recent emergence and proliferation of streaming services. An artist needs to sell 500,000 copies of a single record for it to reach a gold benchmark and 1 million to go platinum. But this doesn't mean a single stream will now carry the same weight as an album sale — instead, the RIAA says 1,500 song or video streams will be equivalent to ten track sales or one album sale. The RIAA's new methodology was implemented Feb 1, which means several albums earned a gold, platinum, or double-platinum certification after the announcement, including Big Sean's "Dark Sky Paradise", Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly", and The Weeknd's "Beauty Behind the Madness".

Apple urges FCC to spike rules for universal compliance with hearing aids

Apple is urging the Federal Communications Commission not to adopt rules that would require universal compatibility between hearing aids and wireless devices and technologies. The Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) Act was established in 1988 and requires the FCC to ensure that all phones manufactured or imported for use in the US are compatible with hearing aids. The FCC essentially broadened the Act in 2003 to establish rules for the hearing aid compatibility of mobile phones. The FCC then in November moved to further broaden rules for hearing aid compatibility, proposing rules that would require 100 percent of all consumer wireless devices and technologies are covered, including next-generation services such as Wi-Fi calling and VoLTE. The agency is seeking comment "on a landmark consensus plan that would, for the first time, establish a consensus path to ensure that all wireless handsets are accessible to and usable by people who use hearing aid devices and cochlear implants."

However, Apple said that while the iPhone complies with FCC's current HAC rules, the company's own hearing aid platform -- dubbed Made for iPhone, or MFi -- should be recognized as an alternative for hearing aid compatibility compliance. MFi uses Bluetooth low energy to connect hearing aids to handsets, Apple explained in its FCC filing on the topic, which supports not only voice calls but enables users to access audio in apps such as FaceTime, VoiceOver, Siri and multimedia and navigation offerings. The platform also enables users to switch between preset configurations for different environments, Apple continued, and to use the phone itself as an assistive listening device, extending the range of hearing aids without requiring third-party equipment.

Remarks of Lawrence Strickling at Silicon Flatirons Conference

National Telecommunications & Information Administration head Lawrence Strickling provided the keynote address at the Silicon Flatirons Conference on the Digital Broadband Migration in Boulder (CO). He used the opportunity to continue to promote the Obama Administration's $4 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). Strickling called BTOP a "resounding success," citing the deployment of 115,000 miles of new or upgraded network, the connection of nearly 26,000 anchor institutions—including schools—and the addition of 670,000 new broadband subscribers. He also said he will team with the Federal Communications Commission to find the balance of the Administration's wireless spectrum goal by the end of 2016.

Clinton didn’t know how to access e-mail by computer, says State official

Hillary Clinton did not know how to use a computer to read and send e-mails when she entered office as the nation's top diplomat in 2009. She only knew how to read her messages via BlackBerry, according to an official at the time. Clinton’s chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, told State Department official Lewis Lukens that there could be a “problem,” because Clinton “does not know how to use a computer to do e-mail — only [Blackberry],” he wrote in a 2009 e-mail released on Feb 1. “But I said [it] would not take much training to get her up to speed," he claimed.

It’s unclear whether Clinton was ever trained to use a computer to access e-mails. However, the admission might bolster the argument that e-mails were not her main means of communication, despite the heavy focus on her use of a private e-mail account and server for official State business. Lukens’s message was contained within an e-mail chain in which the State Department tried to explore options for setting up a "standalone" computer in Clinton’s office which operated off of the State Department’s network.

The Open Government Public Policy Implications of Hillary Clinton’s E-mailgate

[Commentary] In the current frenzy, depending on which side you are on, to either bring Hillary Clinton down or hold her up, the open government public policy implications of her e-mail scandal (“E-mailgate”) are being ignored: how to prevent government officials from using private rather than government e-mail systems for government business. By using private rather than government e-mail systems, Clinton and other high-level government officials seek enhanced control of public records concerning their job performance. This control prevents potentially embarrassing work e-mails from becoming public. Such control can be attained either by using an independently hosted e-mail server, such as Gmail or Outlook, or, as Clinton used, a self-hosted e-mail server. Using an independently hosted e-mail server is much more widespread because of its greater convenience and lower cost. But both types of server can be equally effective in selectively shielding work e-mails from public scrutiny.

Clinton’s E-mailgate scandal hasn’t spurred open government reforms because such reforms aren’t in either political party’s interest. Incumbent officials regardless of party have a shared interest in preserving e-mail practices that give them control of their records. Much of law and ethics enforcement has relied on motivating witnesses and co-conspirators to whistle blow, partly by providing them with some immunity for doing so. It is long past time when this principle should have been applied to curb the abuses of powerful government officials at all levels of government who use private e-mail systems to shield their official work from appropriate public scrutiny.

[J.H. Snider is the president of iSolon.org and editor of the State Constitutional Convention Clearinghouse.]

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