"Barack Obama's use of the Internet to communicate with the American public and the world will have a larger impact on the political media ecology than the declaration that the world was round had on the shipping industry in 1492."
-- Andrew Rasiej, techPresident.com
[Commentary] In the same way national security became the common denominator of public policy in the Bush administration following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, economic growth is apt to be the common thread running though the Obama White House, the Democratic-led Congress and a new-look Federal Communications Commission in coming years. During the 1990s, when the Clinton-Gore administration held sway, spectrum auctions became a politically painless way to raise billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury and generate economic activity through unprecedented wireless buildout. Auctions are not supposed to be just about money, but they mostly are. There will be less spectrum for bidding in the Obama administration, though perhaps it could be persuaded to again tap into the federal government's inventory of radio frequencies for transfer to the private sector. How about spectrum fees, an idea routinely shot down with little fanfare in one presidential budget after another? Policymakers in the new political regime should focus on telecom policies that spur innovation, create new wealth, promote vibrant competition and, perhaps most importantly, embrace an interdisciplinary approach that views information technology (wireless and broadband, in particular) not as an end in itself but as a means to lift all ships — public safety, business, health care, education, energy independence, government transparency and so on. It is an opportunity waiting to be seized.
Obama transition spokeswoman Jen Psaki promised "one of the most open and transparent press offices in White House history." "Americans now get information in a broad variety of ways, and so we are expanding the ways we reach them," Psaki said. In an early indication of the transition team's electronic savvy and drive to move beyond the traditional means of communication, President-elect Obama delivered electronic messages last week to a Global Climate Summit hosted by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and to a special Olympic committee in Europe that is selecting the site for the 2016 summer games. Both messages resonated long and loud in the Internet's echo chamber. If Obama successfully exploits his use of new media, he could strengthen his political hand and make himself more the master of his own destiny, similar to the techniques Ronald Reagan used to build public support for his agenda in the 1980s. Reagan gained notoriety as the Great Communicator for using television to plead his case directly to the people, often circumventing Congress and the press.
[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission has adopted new rules requiring broadcast television stations to provide: 1) the name, phone number and e-mail address of a staff person capable of handling "immediate" captioning problems during normal business hours (such as technical issues); and 2) the name, phone number and e-mail address of the staff person "with primary responsibility" for captioning issues generally and for handling complaints. The contact information must be posted on the station's Web site and filed with the chief of the FCC's Disability Rights Office. With the info, the FCC will create a database of TV station contacts on its Web site. Under the new rules, a closed captioning complaint may be filed initially (by e-mail, fax, or letter) within 60 days with either the TV station (or third-party programming creator) or with the FCC. If a complaint is filed with the FCC, the agency will forward it to the TV station. In either case, the station gets just 30 days to respond. If a complaint is filed with a TV station regarding programming over which it does not exercise "editorial control" (i.e., some third-party distributor), then the TV station must forward the complaint to the "appropriate party" within seven days and that party shall respond within 30 days of the forwarding date.
The Federal Communications Commission will allow an Alabama station to broadcast two digital signals in the immediate run-up to the DTV transition, in part to show that it is willing to be flexible and work with broadcasters. The FCC is giving CBS affiliate WAKA-DTV in Selma special temporary authority to begin operating on its post-transition digital channel a month before the transition. It has been operating a digital signal already, per FCC requirement, on channel 55. But as with a number of other stations, it is moving to a different digital channel (42) after the transition. WAKA is pulling the plug on analog early as well, on Dec. 1. The station asked to broadcast on channel 42 a month early because it said it would make it easier to set up cable and satellite carriage for the new channel. It also asked to be able to broadcast on its new digital channel at reduced power to make it easier to transition its equipment from the old and new channel, saying the alternative would be to pull the plug on its DTV signal on the pre-transition channel (55) for as long as a month. Since it is pulling the plug on analog on Dec. 1--it didn't say why it had to do that--it would essentially be going dark for that period. The FCC said that it was in the public interest to prevent that loss of service and to allow for reduced power due to "unique technical challenges" and pointed out that most of the affected viewers would be able to receive another CBS affiliate. It also said if there are any problems, it could terminate the order. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said, "It is not clear to me that this is the optimal solution to the admittedly difficult transitional issues raised by WAKA. But neither the station nor the Bureau has identified a better option. Given that the transition is now less than 90 days away-and, indeed, WAKA has already begun providing viewer notification of the termination of its analog signal-I concur in the result as proposed." Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein also approved the action saying "it is important for us to send a clear message to broadcasters that the Commission and staff are poised to provide them with the necessary flexibility to upgrade their facilities to digital and serve their viewers."
The International Telecommunication Union has published its annual report detailing a set of regulatory strategies designed to lower the costs of network rollout. Sharing strategies, examined in the new ITU report, are seen as conducive for infrastructure development in the telecommunications/ICT sector, particularly in light of the deepening global financial crisis. Sharing strategies include the sharing of civil engineering costs in deploying networks, promoting open access to network support infrastructure (poles, ducts, conduits), essential facilities (submarine cable landing stations and international gateways) as well as access to radio-frequency spectrum and end-user devices.
If Verizon Wireless employees could snoop into then-Senator Barack Obama's cell phone records, as the carrier acknowledged last week, then mobile subscribers may worry how well protected they are. They should, according to some industry analysts and privacy lawyers. Information that is saved by mobile operators -- and that might be available to unauthorized or unscrupulous employees -- includes whom you talked to, when you called them or they called you, and for how long you talked, as well as text messages and voicemail, according to Ari Schwartz, vice president and chief operating officer of the Center for Democracy and Technology. The information can also include your locations when you started and ended the call, as determined by cell towers or other techniques, CDT Senior Counsel John Morris said.
Clearwire and Sprint Nextel announced Friday that they have completed the transaction to combine their high-speed wireless Internet businesses, a venture that has received backing from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Intel and Google. Sprint will own a 51% interest in the venture; Clearwire will hold 27%; and the investor group will hold a combined 22% of the equity. Clearwire and Sprint have said they expect the WiMax network the new company will build out to reach 60 million to 80 million people by 2009, 140 million by 2010 and 200 million by 2011.
The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Inspector General concludes that the FCC's High Cost Program is "a risk" because the erroneous payment rate for the program is 23.3%. The IG's initial analysis of the second round of audits of the Universal Service Fund estimates that phone companies have been overpaid more than $970 million in subsidies to provide coverage in rural areas. An "erroneous payment" is defined by the Office of Management and Budget to be "any payment that should not have been made or that was made in an incorrect amount under statutory, contractual, administrative, or other legally applicable requirements." The OIG said the errors were not necessarily the result of fraud or corruption and may not be recoverable. Inadequate documentation and auditing processes, accounted for about half of the improper payments, while other reasons included weak internal controls, disregard of FCC rules, and inadequate monitoring or reporting systems. OIG found very few errors involved carriers being denied what they were owed, with overpayments amounting to 98.2% of all improper payments.
The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency released a joint report that analyzes proposed projects for the nearly $1 billion Public Safety Interoperable Communications (PSIC) Grant Program. In September 2007, grants were awarded to help state and local first responders improve public safety communications and coordination during natural and man-made disasters. Some of the report's key findings include:
1) More than $811 million of PSIC funds will be invested by state and local agencies in the acquisition and deployment of equipment to increase emergency communications interoperability;
2) Forty-seven states and territories will allocate portions of their PSIC funds for equipment reserves that are pre-positioned, deployable and able to re-establish communications. Together with pre-existing assets, PSIC will provide a nationwide capability to address infrastructure gaps as identified in the National Emergency Communications Plan;
3) PSIC was the first grant program to require states and territories to align their investments to a DHS-approved Statewide Communication Interoperability Plan (SCIP). This strategic alignment will ensure that investments are not only coordinated across multiple jurisdictions and disciplines, but also across multiple federal and state funding sources; and
4) The PSIC program requires grantees to provide non-federal, matching funds for acquisition, deployment and administrative costs. Jurisdictions have proposed more than $256 million in matching funds, which contributes to more than $1.2 billion in interoperable communications improvements when combined with federal PSIC grant funds.
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