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Conservatives have seized on a viral video of a woman saying she plans to vote for President Barack Obama because he gave her a free phone, arguing it highlights a wasteful government handout.
The conservative Drudge Report displayed the video at the top of its website last week, and radio host Rush Limbaugh pointed to the video to argue that President Obama is making people dependent on the government. Although there is no such thing as an "Obama phone," there is a federal program to help low-income people get access to phones. The program, called Lifeline, is managed by the Federal Communications Commission and began long before President Obama took office. Congress first enacted the Lifeline program in 1985, during the Reagan administration. In 2005, under President George W. Bush, the FCC expanded the program to cover low-cost cellular service. The program pays for phone service, not the phones themselves. But many companies that receive funding through the program offer free and low-cost phones to their subscribers. The discounts average $9.25 per month for qualifying households, and the program is funded through fees that the telephone companies pass on to consumers on their monthly bills. The point of the program is to ensure that everyone has access to basic communications services, especially during emergencies.
'Obama phone' video puts spotlight on FCC Original Obamaphone Lady: Obama Voter Says Vote for Obama because he gives a free Phone (see the video)
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation revealed the 23 MacArthur Fellows for 2012. The fellowships are the stuff of fantasy. Besides the imprimatur of outstanding achievement, they come with a no-strings-attached $100,000 a year for five years.
The 13 men and 10 women named fellows this year range in age from 31 to 66 and, as in years past, are a diverse group. They include an astronomer, a stringed instrument bow maker, two photographers and a marine ecologist. This year the boldface names belong to writers and musicians: Junot Díaz, 43, the writer and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Chris Thile, 31, a mandolinist and composer in New York City; David Finkel 56, a Washington Post reporter; Dinaw Mengestu, 34, a novelist and journalist in Washington; and Claire Chase, 34, a flutist and arts entrepreneur in Brooklyn.
Surprise Grants Transforming 23 More Lives Meet the 2012 MacArthur Fellows (MacArthur) This Year's 'Geniuses' Get Their Reward (WSJ)
The Postal Service sank deeper into debt after the agency defaulted on a $5.6 billion payment due at the end of September, the second time it has missed a deadline this year to set aside money for its future retiree health benefits.
The agency said it expected net operating losses to be $15 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That loss includes the two missed payments totaling $11.1 billion for the agency’s future retiree funds. This month, the Postal Service also faces a $1.5 billion workers’ compensation insurance payment to the Labor Department. It said that it would most likely make that payment, but that it would be left with a cash shortage of about $100 million. Postal Service officials said they expected the shipping of holiday packages and election mailings to help offset some of the losses. Patrick R. Donahoe, the postmaster general, said there would be no disruptions in post office operations. Mail will continue to be delivered on time, and employees and vendors will continue to be paid, he said.
Distress Deepening, Postal Service Defaults on $5.6 Billion Benefits Payment
The Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau provides notice of its intent to grant to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), as expeditiously as possible, a nationwide license for use of the existing public safety broadband spectrum and the 700 MHz D Block, i.e., the 758-769 and 788-799 MHz bands, as required by Section 6201(a) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. The Bureau is prepared to grant FirstNet its license under a new call sign as soon as possible once the Bureau Report and Order becomes effective, i.e., thirty days after its publication in the Federal Register. Consistent with Section 6201(b) of the Act, the license will be granted for an initial term of ten years and will be eligible for renewal.
FCC Prepares Spectrum license for First Responder Network Authority
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration issues this Notice of Inquiry on behalf of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) to seek public comment on the conceptual network architecture presentation made at the FirstNet Board of Directors’ meeting held on September 25, 2012, as well as to invite input on other network design and business plan considerations.
NTIA also seeks comment on the general concept of how to develop applications for public safety users as discussed at the FirstNet Board meeting. FirstNet intends to use the input received from this process to shape its efforts to establish the interoperable public safety broadband network based on a single, nationwide network architecture called for under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Act). Comments must be received no later than November 1, 2012.
Notice of Inquiry on FirstNet Conceptual Network Architecture
In the four years since Comcast implemented the country’s first real broadband cap (it took effect on Oct. 1, 2008) the percentage of subscribers with caps on their broadband service has risen to 64 percent. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission only began formally wondering if data caps might need some sort of oversight, or at least sort of qualifier in the last few months.
This is a dereliction of duty from the agency that’s supposed to ensure that broadband is available across the country, an agency whose chairman gives countless speeches emphasizing how important broadband is in the home and as a source for innovation. Yet as the basic pricing for broadband service has changed, the FCC has not kept up. It hasn’t distributed data on the consumers affected, established any sort of independent group to ensure that ISPs were tracking customers’ broadband usage fairly and doesn’t even insist that ISPs who implement caps provide meters to their customers.
There are signals that the agency may be waking up to the problem, so here’s what the FCC at a minimum needs to do if caps are going to be a way of life going forward.
- If ISPs cap broadband, the FCC should track how those caps affect consumers.
- Would you like a meter with that cap?
- If I have a meter, is it accurate?
As broadband caps turn 4, it’s time for the FCC to take action
More than 64 percent of broadband subscribers in the U.S. have a cap on their usage. Are you one of them? This story shows which ISPs are capping your broadband, the structure of those plans and explains why caps are a big business.
Which ISPs are capping your broadband, and why? More cable companies cap data use for extra revenue (USAToday)
In an address at an Accuracy In Media event, former Democratic pollster Pat Caddell said: “We are at the most dangerous time in our political history in terms of the balance of power in the role of that the media plays in whether we maintain a free democracy or not. Later in the speech, Caddell calls the press the ‘enemy of the American people.’” But Caddell and many others are using information generated by the media to attack the media. Fun times. If only Caddell would storm the White House briefing room and show the same ferocity that he spouts in front of a group of media critics! Then perhaps he could demonstrate how the media functions as a friend of the American people.
Pat Caddell: Media is the ‘enemy of the American people’
Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) vetoed a bill that would have restricted the ability of police to block access to landline and wireless phone networks. The legislation was spurred by an incident last year when a San Francisco transit agency shut off the transmitters that allow for cellphone reception in four underground subway stations to disrupt a planned protest over a police shooting.
Civil-liberties groups condemned the blackout as an intrusion on free speech and compared it to crackdowns in authoritarian regimes. Agency officials said the blackout was necessary to prevent a potentially violent protest. The legislation would have required police to obtain a court order before shutting down phone service. Under "extreme and exceptional" circumstances, police could obtain the court order within six hours of disrupting service. In a statement, Gov Brown said he concluded the bill's requirements could "divert attention away from resolving the conflict without further threat to public safety." He encouraged lawmakers to revise the legislation so that it strikes a better balance between free speech and public safety.
California governor vetoes bill to restrict police power to blackout cellphones
Gen. Keith Alexander, the head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, said that destructive cyberattacks against critical infrastructure could be thwarted if it was easier for the government and industry to share information with one another about malware and other threats. He recommended that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lead any effort to facilitate the transfer of threat information between American companies and government agencies. The role of DHS on cybersecurity has been one of the key stumbling blocks for moving legislation through Congress.
General Alexander: Nation needs DHS involved in cybersecurity