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The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau seeks comment on a petition filed by US Telecom Association for reconsideration and clarification of two high-cost universal service rules.
First, USTelecom seeks reconsideration and clarification of certain parts of section 54.313 of the Commission’s rules, which outlines the filing requirements for eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) for eligibility to receive high cost universal service support, and their application to ETCs. Second, USTelecom seeks reconsideration and clarification of various aspects of the proposed FCC Form 481 and accompanying instructions, for which the Bureau is currently seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Comment Date: May 10, 2013; Reply Comment Date: May 28, 2013.
FCC Seeks Comment On The United States Telecom Association Petition on High-Cost Universal Service Reporting Rules
Local stations enjoy unique advantages as they confront their challenges:
- A strong brand awareness in the market, years in the making
- An active presence in the community, which digital (and especially social) media can significantly enhance
- A trusted reputation for news. In fact, local TV news consistently comes in first in Pew's annual "believability" survey -- which positions the local station to be a credible curator of crowd-sourced information
- A valuable role as provider of news and vital information when a crisis hits -- one of the few times that younger users turn to familiar sources for help
- A well-established relationship with key advertisers, which opens the door to station-driven marketing services aimed not just at current advertisers but smaller businesses that can only afford digital advertising
- Proficiency in video, increasingly the lingua franca of digital media, giving stations an edge in creating unique video experiences tailored to on-the-go consumption
- Multiple platforms to drive a social-media strategy built around local news personalities, whose involvement with viewers and users in a true "conversation" (rather than mere promotion) can help build a station's unique value to its audience and advertisers
And most of all, there's still nothing like TV to engage the emotions and confer instant celebrity. Even those media-saturated millennials aren't immune to the magic.
How Local News Can Save Itself
A look at winners picked by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Facebook at their HackEd 2.0 challenge. The two organizations hosted 24 teams of developers, educators and others for a day-long event and hackathon at Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters focused on all things ed tech.
Winners included:
- Edumacation — Created by a team from Facebook, the app uses the social network’s open graph to help students create pathways to college and beyond by finding people with common characteristics or relevant experiences. For example, a high school student could use it to find graduates of her high school who are now enrolled at Harvard or a college student could use it to find a Facebook employee who went to her alma mater.
- Outspoken — Created by a team that includes one teacher, it helps students build Common Core reading and listening skills by exchanging video and written content with peers on Facebook.
Ed tech teams compete for modest prizes from Gates Foundation, Facebook
If you're not jealous of Austin, which officially became the second lucky city to get access to Google Fiber — the search giant's experimental, superfast, surprisingly cheap fiber optic Internet infrastructure — you should be, because it's unlikely that your city will ever get the coveted connection service of the future.
By mid-next year Austin residents will begin to have Internet access that Google claims runs 100 times faster than the average broadband connection, for "roughly similar" prices to Google's first Fiber test case, Kansas City, a city where Internet bills run a very reasonable $70 per month but which provides a cautionary tale for the expensive realities of Google's project. So how much longer until the rest of us join the revolution? Well, we might have to wait forever. Google CEO Larry Page has previously mentioned vague expansion plans for Fiber during earnings calls, calling it a "good business" and not just a "hobby." But it's very unlikely that Fiber will see a country wide release. Most importantly, installing fiber optic cable is expensive — just laying down Fiber in Kansas City cost $84 million for 149,000 homes... and that was before even connecting the cables to the houses. One estimate pegs "nationwide deployment" at $140 billion, which would wipe out even Apple's big pile of cash reserves. Just another 20 million homes would cost $11 billion, according to other research. Of course, that still leaves hope for certain parts of the country. But Kansas City met certain specifications that other cities might not.
Why Google Fiber and Its High-Speed Clones Are Too Expensive for Your City
[Commentary] The fantastically-mustachioed Chase Carey of News Corp. has gotten quite a bit of support in the broadcast community for his "threat" to shut down Fox's over-the-air signals. Fox, CBS, Univision and others have said if they're not able to make antenna-rental services like Aereo illegal, then they'll simply convert to some sort of vaguely-specified "subscription model" where, presumably, rooftop and remote antennas would not be able to pick up their programming. But I'm not sure that the support and applause directed his way from some circles is quite as welcome.
Mike Masnick's reaction was typical of the tech-literate crowds I run in. He writes, “No networks are stupid enough to shut down over this, and if they are, good riddance. Put that spectrum to better use.”
Chase Carey and his supporters may have thought they were taking a tough stand in their threat to shut down their broadcast operations. But in reality they've simply laid bare the increasing anachronism of their business model, and they've shown a dismissive attitude toward the public they are supposed to serve. Broadcasters need to make sure they continue to serve the public interest by providing free, high-quality programming on the airwaves that the American people have entrusted to them. If they get bored of doing this that's their right, but they shouldn't expect to continue squatting on the public's airwaves when there are so many other things that could be done with them.
As Broadcasters "Threaten" to Shut Down, They're Not Getting the Reaction They Were Looking For
Digital strategists Teddy Goff and Zac Moffatt worked for warring candidates during the 2012 presidential election, but they both agree that successful politicians going forward will fully embrace online engagement — and reap financial rewards from it.
Moffatt, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s digital director, points to Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., as candidates with particular online fundraising savvy — and both rising stars in the U.S. Senate who may be considering 2016 presidential bids. “It’ll be interesting to see how much Rand Paul raised off the filibuster,” Moffatt said, alluding to Paul’s nearly 13-hour talk-a-thon in March against the confirmation of John Brennan to be the new CIA director. Moffatt also remarked on how Rubio, who faced criticism and ridicule in February about drinking from a water bottle during his rebuttal to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address, turned a potential gaffe into an online fundraising opportunity. Rubio's tactic? Offer reusable Rubio water bottles for a donation of $25 or more, with the cash benefiting his Reclaim America PAC.
Political strategists praise power of online fundraising
Despite efforts in the past decade to improve information and communications technologies (ICT) infrastructure in developing economies, there remains a new digital divide in how countries harness ICT to deliver competitiveness and well-being, according to the 12th edition of The Global Information Technology Report, released by the World Economic Forum.
Published under the theme, Growth and Jobs in a Hyperconnected World, the Report suggests that national policies in some developing economies are failing to translate ICT investment into tangible benefits in terms of competitiveness, development and employment. This is in addition to the profound digital divide that already exists between advanced and developing economies in access to digital infrastructure and content.
The Report’s Networked Readiness Index (NRI), which measures the capacity of 144 economies to leverage ICT for growth and well-being, finds Finland (1st), Singapore (2nd) and Sweden (3rd) take the top three places. The Netherlands (4th), Norway (5th), Switzerland (6th), the United Kingdom (7th), Denmark (8th), the United States (9th), and Taiwan, China (10th) complete the top 10.
Global Information Technology Report highlights lack of progress in bridging the new digital divide
The federal government increasingly is concentrating diplomatic efforts on protecting Americans from hackers, but less is said about foreign allies who are equally mobile and even more vulnerable. Now, the State Department is paying attention. In emerging economies -- which depend on inexpensive smartphones for everything from banking to crime-fighting -- network security is almost an afterthought.
Today, "due diligence" is one of State's top priorities, Thomas Dukes, senior adviser for the department’s Office of the Cyber Coordinator, said Tuesday. Foreign Service professionals will help developing nations strengthen their communications infrastructure. India, South Africa and other emerging nations potentially pose a cyber threat to themselves, and, to some degree, global networks that are interconnected.
State Department Looks After the Next Cyber Threat: Africa
[Commentary] The Internet is under attack by nations that want to plunder its riches and control the flow of information. No, I’m not referring to the latest state-sponsored cyber-attack. I’m talking about a concerted international effort — out of the view of most Americans — to drag the Internet within the purview of regulatory bodies such as the International Telecommunication Union, a UN agency.
Under the current “multi-stakeholder" governance model, non-regulatory institutions manage and operate the Internet by developing best practices with public and private sector input across the globe. The structure of the Internet and the content and applications it carries are organized from the ground up, not handed down by governments. This allows the Internet to evolve quickly, to meet the diverse needs of users around the world, and to keep governmental or non-governmental actors from controlling the design and operation of the network or the content it carries. Governments’ hands-off approach has enabled the Internet to grow at an astonishing pace and become perhaps the most powerful engine of social and economic freedom and job creation the world has ever known. I am introducing legislation elevating language from a resolution opposing proposals in a particular treaty to a permanent statement of U.S. policy. The congressional subcommittee on communications and technology that I chair will consider it. By strengthening last year’s legislation, Congress will demonstrate its commitment to Internet freedom and push back on those nations that might subvert the Internet for their own purposes. Last year, Congress “talked the talk" and passed a resolution defending a global Internet free from government control. This year, Congress must “walk the walk" and make it official U.S. policy. Since this is a principle that we’ve already unanimously said we believe in, there is no downside to stating so plainly in U.S. law. I urge my colleagues to continue the bipartisan cooperation the House and Senate showed last year and affirm that the Internet is too important to the world to be overrun by governments.
Keeping the Internet free from government control
The Pentagon won't say what they are, but the Air Force has now officially designated six cyber technologies as "weapons." "This means that the game-changing capability [of] cyber is going to get more attention and the recognition that it deserves," said Lieutenant General John Hyten, vice commander of the Air Force Space Command.
Recognition and money, since military budgets tend to favor weapons. "At the same time that there is this mounting pressure and competition for resources within the Pentagon budget, the U.S. government and intelligence agencies are reporting an exponential growth in the number of cyberattacks," says Reuters correspondent Andrea Shalal-Esa. Shalal-Esa says putting the weapons label on certain cyber systems is about making computer warfare mainstream inside the Pentagon.
The funding fight for cyber weapons and personnel What the heck is a cyber-weapon, anyway? (Quartz)