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Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the new ranking member of the Senate Communications Subcommittee, suggested that he would be focused on broadband deployment and the innovation and job creation it brings, which puts him on the same page as the Federal Communications Commission.
"As ranking member, I look forward to examining the current state of the communications and technology sectors to ensure quality broadband access to all corners of America, particularly in rural areas like my home state of Mississippi," he said in statement following his being named to the ranking post. He replaces Sen Jim DeMint (R-SC), who announced in December he was resigning to head conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. Wicker's statement was all about broadband. "As our economy recovers, the telecommunications, media, and technology industries offer lessons for job creation and growth. Broadband access is necessary for economic development for the 21st-century workforce. We need the continued growth and innovation that increased broadband access provides."
Sen. Wicker Outlines Broadband Focus
Common Sense Media has recommendations for how the government studies the relationship between violent media and real-life violence, which it based on an analysis of the existing research into children and media. Common Sense says that the current research into children and teenagers' violent media exposure is out of date and incomplete, including almost no data on online exposure. But it says the research that is available "allows us to think about violent media as a 'risk factor' to violence -- one variable among many that increases the risk of violent behavior among some children."
Common Sense's recommendations for filling in the research "gaps" are:
- Monitoring children's cumulative exposure to violence across multiple forms of media, including movies/video, advertising, music, social media, and other online venues;
- Longitudinal studies that include the most current media -- especially the ultra-violent first-person shooter games, and the latest movies and television shows;
- Studies that both pay attention to and control for the multiple additional risk factors and variables that potentially influence violent behavior, including trait aggression and family violence; and
- Additional and more current studies about children's exposure to violence in the advertisements they see each day on television, while streaming content, and in other new media venues.
Common Sense Suggestions for Violence Studies
Incumbent broadband providers are pushing legislation that would restrict Georgia towns from building municipal broadband networks.
Under the proposal, if a single home in a census tract has Internet access at speeds of 1.5Mbps or above, the town would be prohibited from offering broadband service to anyone in that tract. State-level restrictions on municipal broadband networks are not a new idea. Last year the South Carolina legislature passed a similar proposal with the support of AT&T. North Carolina passed similar legislation in 2011. The idea has been shot down in Indiana and a number of other states.
Bill would ban muni broadband if one home in census tract gets 1.5Mbps
President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order sets up some new ways for Washington to share threat information with the private sector. For now, it’ll be a one-way relationship: the government can notify private businesses if they’ve been targeted for cyberattack, but the businesses won’t be giving anything to the government in return.
The White House hopes Congress will change that through legislation this year. Bills like the perennially controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) would open the floodgates of information in the other direction. Privacy groups aren’t a fan of those efforts, as they worry companies won’t be held accountable if personally identifiable data gets handed over and abused. But at least when it comes to the executive order, some have only praise. “Greasing the wheels of information sharing from the government to the private sector is a privacy-neutral way to distribute critical cyber information," said Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Part of the reason the ACLU supports Obama’s move is because everything contained in the order — and in particular, the development by federal agencies of in-house cybersecurity standards — will be held up against the Federal Trade Commission's universally recognized privacy standards, the Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPP).
Here’s how they’ll help preserve privacy.
- Transparency and openness. Agencies will have to be clear about who’s collecting the data, who’ll have access to it, and how it’ll be used.
- Choice and consent. This is the opt-in/opt-out checkbox you’re probably familiar with if you’ve ever been asked to install a toolbar, search widget, or other third-party software along with a program.
- Access and participation. People and organizations have to be able to learn exactly what’s been collected about them.
- Integrity and security. Agencies will have to take “reasonable” measures to protect any data they’ve collected.
- Enforcement and redress. There must be a way for people to challenge the system if they think there’s been a breach of the principles.
Why Some Privacy Advocates are Grinning Over Obama’s Cybersecurity Order
The day after President Barack Obama tasked the Homeland Security Department with persuading operators of dams and other vital commercial systems to secure their computers, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said impending budget hacks could weaken the department’s ability to carry out the job.
Given that some Republicans seem open to letting sequestration -- automatic, congressionally-mandated spending cuts -- take effect on March 1, agencies are starting to detail how the reductions would affect government services. Sequestration would “leave critical infrastructure vulnerable to attacks” and “significantly scale back cyber security infrastructure protections that have been developed in recent years,” Sec Napolitano wrote in a Feb. 13 letter to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee. He had written Sec Napolitano on Feb. 1 to ask about the ramifications of an estimated 7.6 percent to 9.4 percent decrease in departmental funding.
Sec Napolitano: Sequestration Could Compromise US Computer Networks
The Department of Justice has approved the proposed merger between Random House and Penguin ”without conditions.”
The merger, which remains under review by other antitrust authorities including the European Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau, would create the world’s largest publisher. According to the announcement sent by Pearson, “Pearson and Bertelsmann continue to expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2013, after all necessary approvals have been received.”
Department of Justice clears Random House-Penguin merger
Ongoing debate over interoperability issues in the Lower 700 MHz band has bought certain licensees more time to construct their networks.
The Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau announced it is extending the interim construction deadline by six months--until Dec. 13, 2013--for all active Lower 700 MHz band A Block licensees that have an interim four-year construction benchmark deadline falling prior to the revised deadline. Prior to the deadline extension, the commission required A Block licensees with spectrum in the 698-704 MHz and 728-734 MHz bands to provide signal coverage and offer service over at least 35 percent of the geographic area of their license no later than June 13, 2013, or within four years of their initial license grant if the initial authorization was granted after June 13, 2009. Some Lower 700 MHz band licensees requested an extension of this Interim Construction Benchmark Deadline, contending interoperability issues in the band are impeding their progress by reducing the availability of a wide range of advanced end-user devices.
Lower 700 MHz A Block licensees gain more time to build networks
Comcast executives warned that TV programming costs could increase in the "low double digits" in 2013 - increases that likely will be passed to Comcast's TV customers - after increasing about 7 percent in 2012.
The company's growth engines of Internet customers and business services remain strong and Comcast intends to invest heavily into NBCUniversal businesses in 2013. Comcast vice chairman Michael Angelakis and NBCUniversal head Steve Burke said they expect to grow organically as opposed to seeking an international acquisition. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says the company's gambit in the 1990s and early 2000s to assemble a national cable-TV distribution system is paying dividends for shareholders and that Comcast now has to learn how to make the telecommunications network and NBCUniversal work together. The goal going forward, Roberts said, is make legacy TV distributor an exciting place for young people seeking a career. "This is a company in the crosshairs of media and technology," he said.
Comcast: Rate hike likely to pay for programming
For anyone who thought that we didn’t need a comprehensive, focused inquiry on how to clear the path for communications to move from a TDM-based circuit switched world to an all-IP, broadband future , you must have noticed a ripple in the force last week.
That ripple, of course, was caused by the failure of the FCC to meet the statutory one-year deadline to decide a US Telecom petition that seeks forbearance from, among other things, rules which apply to carriers engaged in furnishing “radio-telegraph, wire-telegraph, or ocean-cable service,” and requires such carriers to maintain “separate files for each damage claim of a traffic nature.” That’s right. One year was not enough time to determine whether we could finish making the move from the telegraph-era to the telephone-era. Apparently, this is tricky stuff. But fear not, under the statute, the Commission is only allowed to extend the due date on this request for three more months , and I am confident that, given that extra time, the Commission will see the light and grant this relief.
Streamlining Telegraph Rules: This is Tricky Stuff
Free Press responded to claims in a blog post by AT&T Senior Vice President Bob Quinn that the Federal Communications Commission is moving too slowly on a petition that would eliminate certain regulations that ensure consumers and businesses have access to quality services at reasonable prices. Free Press has filed comments with the FCC that raise serious concerns about the long-term impact of AT&T's request that the agency facilitate the transition to all-IP networks. If granted under the FCC's current broadband-classification framework, AT&T’s request would result in the complete removal of all regulatory oversight of our nation's critical telecommunications infrastructure.
Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner made the following statement:
"AT&T's latest missive against the FCC shows once again that its penchant for bullying is as boundless as its hubris. The FCC is correct to take additional time to fully consider the petition brought by AT&T's mouthpiece, the U.S. Telecom Association. If granted in full, the changes AT&T and USTA seek could have severe impacts on consumers, businesses, competition and jobs. AT&T's agenda is clear: It wants no limits on its ability to jack up the prices for basic services, to redline already underserved consumers or to use its market power to raise its rivals' costs. The FCC should ignore AT&T's intimidation tactics and focus on the facts and the law."
Free Press: FCC Should Ignore AT&T's Bullying Comments (see Free Press filing)