By Brad
A new bill introduced by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) would give the FCC the power to hold “voluntary incentive auctions” in order to allocate more spectrum for private use. From The Hill:
As consumers upgrade from basic cell phones to smartphones and as data applications become more elaborate, the need to free up spectrum for wireless use increases, Boucher said in a statement. He commended the FCC’s National Broadband Plan goal to make 500 MHz of spectrum newly available for broadband use within the decade.
“That is a worthy goal, and one that our legislation will assist in achieving,” he said.
The National Association of Broadcasters, which has said auctions would be fine as long as they were voluntary, has given the bill the thumbs up.
By David
Via Broadcasting & Cable, the Minority Media & Telecom Council has sent a letter to the FCC warning that outlawing “quality of service” agreements as part of net neutrality would have a profoundly negative effect on minority businesses:
“By preventing these voluntary agreements,” says MMTC, “the Commission would effectively insulate established Internet-based companies from competition and allow for the proliferation of two Internets - one that well-funded, incumbent companies can use, and another for all other businesses.”
Signatures on the letter included the National Association of Black County Officials and the National Black Caucus of State Legislatures, among others.
By Bruce
Last week, Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich) expressed frustrations with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski:
“I find it wholly frustrating that Chairman Genachowski, after nearly two months, still has not responded to my questions about the classification of broadband Internet access services,” Dingell said in his letter.
Dingell added that he has “serious concerns about the FCC’s proposed course of action” and that Congress has “intense interest” in Genachowski’s plans.
Since then, The Hill reports, Chairman Genachowski has responded to Rep. Dingell — but the reply failed to mollify the Representative’s concerns:
Dingell said in a letter dated Wednesday that the FCC should “abandon” its effort to increase its authority over Internet service providers.
“Unfortunately, the paucity of substantive responses to my [questions] has served only to substantiate my fear that the commission’s proposed path with respect to the regulation of broadband is based on unsound reasoning and an incomplete record, and is thus fraught with legal risk,” Dingell said.
He said the commission should instead look to Congress to grant it more power.
“In this way, the Congress and the commission may ensure the establishment of a steadfast legal foundation for an open Internet,” Dingell wrote.
By Brad
The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration wants to ease restrictions so the FBI can force companies to hand over employee Internet activity without a court order:
The administration wants to add just four words—“electronic communication transactional records”—to a list of items that the law says the FBI may demand without a judge’s approval. Government lawyers say this category of information includes the addresses to which an Internet user sends e-mail; the times and dates e-mail was sent and received; and possibly a user’s browser history. It does not include, the lawyers hasten to point out, the “content” of e-mail or other Internet communication.
But what officials portray as a technical clarification designed to remedy a legal ambiguity strikes industry lawyers and privacy advocates as an expansion of the power the government wields through so-called national security letters. These missives, which can be issued by an FBI field office on its own authority, require the recipient to provide the requested information and to keep the request secret. They are the mechanism the government would use to obtain the electronic records.
By Brad
Four years ago, Congress banned Internet gambling. But as the New York Times reports, there is growing momentum around repealing the law:
On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would effectively legalize online poker and other nonsports betting, overturning a 2006 federal ban that critics say merely drove Web-based casinos offshore.
The bill would direct the Treasury Department to license and regulate Internet gambling operations, while a companion measure, pending before another committee, would allow the Internal Revenue Service to tax such businesses. Winnings by individuals would also be taxed, as regular gambling winnings are now.
It’s estimated that taxes on gambling could bring in $42 billion for the government over ten years.
By Bruce
The discussion over allocating current government-used spectrum for private use continues, with House Homeland Security Emergency Communications Subcommittee Chairwoman Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) warning the FCC yesterday it needs to move forward carefully. Reports Tech Daily Dose:
“The plan contends that public safety would be able to leverage commercial innovation, economies of scale, and additional spectrum via priority access and roaming agreements on commercial networks,” Richardson said. “These are promising attributes, but the subcommittee needs more assurances that these features will provide adequate resources and capacity for public safety to meet its mission-critical needs.”
As part of the FCC’s proposal to free up more critical spectrum, private industry would help build a communications network for first responders. The Department of Homeland Security is warming to the idea, but with a “number of significant caveats.”
By Brad
Yesterday, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) announced he was introducing an online privacy bill aimed at giving Internet users more control over how their data is collected and used. From the Washington Post:
The legislative proposals add momentum to a push by consumer groups to create stronger federal rules for how companies such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google can track user activity and place ads based on that information. Facebook faced criticism for creating complex changes to its privacy polices late last year that made some information more available to the public. Apple and AT&T were criticized for a data breach that revealed the network identities of its iPad users. Google said it accidentally snooped on residential Wi-Fi networks around the world as it collected technical information for location-based applications.
“Our ability to control what information is collected, used and disclosed about us is central to how we want the world to view us, and that, in turn, affects our ability to seek out opportunity in both social and economic spheres,” Kerry said in a statement. “But currently, there is widespread confusion among our constituents and colleagues about what power we have over those practices.”
In other privacy news, it has been revealed that the profile pages — including data such as addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth — for more than 100 million Facebook users has appeared on an Internet file-sharing site. While the release of the data doesn’t break any laws, since its all publicly available, it highlights the increasing need for user vigilance when posting information online.
By Brad
Earlier this week, search giants Google and Yahoo! announced they would be joining forces in Japan. As you’d expect, this didn’t sit well with Microsoft, whose Bing search engine has slowly been building a user base. Reports The Hill:
“Today Google accounts for about 51 percent of paid search advertising in Japan. Yahoo Japan accounts for 47 percent. Their combined share of natural search results is almost as high,” [Microsoft’s Dave Heiner] said.
Heiner raised concerns about potential anticompetitive repercussions of the deal. He pointed to how Google ranks its search listings.
Heiner warned that “if Google is permitted to proceed with its plan … Google alone would decide what consumers in Japan will find, or not find, on the Web.”
He also raised the specter of user privacy.
He continued, “And Google will obtain massive amounts of data regarding the search history and websites visited by every consumer, business and government agency that conducts web searches.”
Given all the chatter recently about the need for “search neutrality,” this move will surely add more fuel to the fire.
By Brad
The Guardian mourns the passing of the world’s oldest Twitter user:
Ivy Bean, 104, began tweeting last year from her residential home in the outskirts of Bradford, and amassed over 56,000 followers with posts telling of food, family visits, and even an invitation from Gordon Brown to meet the then prime minister in Downing Street.
Ivy had fallen ill last month, and her followers had been kept updated by Pat, the manager of Hillside Manor, over the last few weeks. It was Pat who bore the bad news today.
“Ivy passed away peacefully at 12.08 this morning,” she wrote just after 10am, adding: “I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you but it was a very difficult thing to do”.
By Brad
Online video has been called the future of television, but as the Los Angeles Times points out, providing a reliable measurement of online viewers is still a challenge:
The stakes for getting it right have never been higher. Advertisers are expected to spend $25.1 billion this year in online advertising in the U.S. alone, according to researcher EMarketer.
“The inconsistencies across methodologies and venders and the cacophony of numbers in the marketplace are clearly confusing,” said Sherrill Mane, a senior vice president of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group that has been advocating for greater accountability in online measurement. “They’re truly hampering the growth of the medium.”
The three dominant measurement firms — ComScore, Nielsen and Quantcast — have been working since 2007 with an independent media auditing group to make improvements so the Web data they report don’t have a fun-house quality, in which the same site’s traffic can look emaciated or bulging, depending on the viewer’s angle.
“It’s maddening,” said Tim Hanlon, a Chicago digital media strategist. “You would think 15 years on, we would be in a better place. But we’re still talking about fundamental discrepancies in things like page counts.”
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