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By nature Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell is not gloomy man. More often than not, he’s got a smile on his face and a quip on his lips, but packing up an office that you’ve held for nearly a decade tends to make one pensive.
He took the opportunity to reflect on the issues that shaped his tenure, from network neutrality to spectrum auctions to Internet freedom. “It’s a little sad. I love these issues. I love the way the FCC is independent,” he said. “I’ll never have another job like this. It really empowers you to do what you think is best.” While the Democratic-led commission and McDowell were at odds with some of the biggest decisions, the 49-year-old commissioner wasn’t a bomb thrower. He is still an outspoken critic of the network neutrality rules because he thinks they are unnecessary government meddling. He still finds portions of the commission’s rules governing the 700-MHz wireless spectrum auction vexing because of their complexity, and he worries that the same complexity will doom the incentive auction. “My hope is, I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think it will yield as much spectrum as first advertised,” he said. “It could end up being too complex to work well. If there’s something I learned between the [Advanced Wireless Services] auction in ’06 and the 700-MHz auction December of ’07, it is: If you make spectrum auctions too complicated, they are less likely to work well.” Commissioner McDowell said there is still hope for a simple plan, but it will require the commission to take a different tack.
FCC’s Robert McDowell reflects on how he left his mark
Cartographers, beware: the map wars have begun.
First Apple built maps, and now Facebook wants its own mapping service. In the tech industry, maps have become essential, primarily because of the explosion of mobile devices, on which maps are a critical application. Maps are also seen as the gateway to commerce, both online and in the real world. Yet even as maps have become a must-have service, Google, the leader in online mapping so far, is showing that experience pays dividends. On May 15, Google unveiled a new Google Maps, by far the biggest redesign since it introduced Maps eight years ago.
Google Escalates the Competition in Map Services
Google CEO Larry Page slammed many of the regulations that govern the Internet at the company's annual conference for software developers, expressing frustration over how institutions such as the law haven’t kept up with the pace of change.
“The law can’t be right when it’s 50 years old,” said Page. “It’s before the Internet — that’s a pretty major change.” “There are many exciting, important things that we can do that we can’t do because they’re illegal and they’re not allowed by regulation. And that makes sense — we don’t want our morals to change too fast,” said Page. Page didn't spare the private sector from criticism. The 40-year-old CEO said he felt that the Internet was not advancing as fast as it could be, and mentioned Microsoft as one of the companies that poses a challenge to that advancement.
Google CEO: Internet hampered by 'outdated' laws Google CEO on innovation: 'We're at 1% of what's possible' (ComputerWorld)
Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Justice Department will likely support legislation requiring law enforcement officers to obtain a warrant before accessing private online messages, such as e-mails or Facebook messages.
"It is something that I think the Department will support," AG Holder said in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. He urged Congress to exempt "certain very limited circumstances" such as civil investigations. "But the more general notion of having a warrant to obtain the content of communications from a service provider is something that we support," AG Holder said.
AG Holder backs warrant requirement for most e-mail searches AG Holder: DOJ Generally Supports Warrant for Info From Service Providers (Broadcasting&Cable)
The next time you search on Google, you might feel like you're talking to a person. The Silicon Valley giant announced that it is enhancing its search feature to let users vocally ask for answers in a conversational way.
"OK, Google, show me things to do in Santa Cruz," directed Johanna Wright, the company's vice president of search and assist for mobile, as she spoke to a massive crowd at Google I/O, the company's developers conference. Google said conversational search will roll out "soon." The feature will only be available with Google's Chrome browser, and of course the computer using it has to have a microphone. Google also said it will now show more types of information on its predictive search feature called Google Now. That service tries to give users information it thinks they will want before they search for it, and it will now also support information for public transit, music albums, books, TV shows and reminders that they set. The company also announced that its "Knowledge Graph," which shows users boxes of information when they make searches about people, places and things in the world, has been improved to give better information.
Google to roll out 'conversational' way to search Web
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has done a highly detailed analysis of broadband deployment in the U.S. -– looking at broadband availability by speed, by technology, by state, by county, and by various combinations of these factors. The upshot, the NTIA said, is that although the U.S. continues to make progress on broadband deployment and speeds, gaps between rural and metro areas persist.
The report notes, for example, that almost 100% of urban residents have access to download speeds of at least 6 Mbps but only 82% of rural communities can access these speeds. And while almost 88% of urban residents have access to speeds of 25 Mbps, only 41% of rural residents have the same access. One of the most interesting charts in the report was one showing the percentage of counties where people can get broadband at various speeds ranging from basic 3 Mbps downstream service to high-speed 100 Mbps downstream service. In the chart, reproduced here, each speed level has a low and a high mark. The high mark shows the percentage of counties where 25% of the population can get broadband at a certain speed, while the low mark shows the percentage of counties where 95% of the population can get service at that speed. The chart shows, for example, that 5% of the people in 41% of U.S. counties lack even basic 3 Mbps broadband. And 75% of the people in just under 2% of U.S. counties lack broadband at that speed. At the 6 Mbps level, 5% of the people in 62% of U.S. counties cannot get service. And 75% of the people in 4.5% of U.S. counties can’t get 6 Mbps broadband.
NTIA: 18% of Rural Communities Lack 3 Mbps Broadband
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) asked his Twitter followers to send pictures of locations offering free cellphones in Louisiana.
“I'm collecting photos of #freecellphones booths around #Louisiana. If you see one, take a picture and send to me at david@davidvitter.com. — David Vitter (@DavidVitter) May 15, 2013”
The tweet is the latest in Vitter's effort to roll back the federal government's Lifeline program that provides basic cellphones to people who are at or below 135 percent of the poverty line. Vitter recently began tweeting photos that constituents have sent him of booths they have encountered, offering free cellphones.
Sen. Vitter solicits 'Obama phone' pics on Twitter
At a House Judiciary Committee Justice Department oversight hearing, Attorney General Eric Holder said that being able to classify illegal streaming as a felony, not just a misdemeanor, is necessary for the government to have in its toolkit.
Asked by Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) why Justice felt it needed that expanded power, Holder said that sometimes such streaming involves thousands and millions of dollars. He said that Justice wasn't looking to turn streaming from a misdemeanor to a crime, but that in some cases it needed that added power "consistent with the nature of the harm."
AG Holder: Justice Should Be Able to Go After Some Illegal Streaming as Felony
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said he plans to reintroduce the Free Flow of Information Act, the federal shield law bill that twice passed the Congress over the past few years before being stalled in the Senate.
That move was prompted by the Department of Justice's seizure of AP reporter and editor phone records, according to AP, without informing the news operation. At a Justice Department oversight hearing with Attorney General Eric Holder, Conyers said he was "troubled by the notion that our government would pursue such a broad array of media phone records over such a long period of time." Rep Conyers said the shield law, if it had been in effect, would require the government to show cause before compelling disclosure of the sort of information from the news media that was at issue with the AP record collection.
Rep. Conyers to Reintroduce Shield Law
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has scheduled a May 22 nomination hearing for two new department chiefs, but it did not include Federal Communications Commission chairman nominee Tom Wheeler.
Chairman Rockefeller had said earlier in the month that he might schedule a Wheeler nomination hearing as early as the end of this month, and a source at the committee had suggested that might be packaged with that of Transportation secretary Anthony Foxx, whose nomination was announced in tandem with Wheeler's, and the Department of Commerce secretary Penny Pritzker -- Commerce overseas government spectrum holders. But while Foxx and Pritzker will get a hearing May 22 and 23, respectively, there was no mention of Wheeler.
Wheeler Not Among Senate Commerce Nominees Scheduled for Hearing