May 2010

Nearly every Republican member of the House signed a letter to the Federal Communications Commission protesting a plan to redefine broadband Internet access as a telecommunications service.

The FCC plans to start reviewing that plan at its June 17 meeting. The letter sent to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on May 28, urged the agency to instead to leave it up to Congress to deal with the agency's quagmire over its authority to regulate broadband service providers.

"The FCC concluded on a number of occasions, under both Democrat- and Republican-led commissions, that broadband is not a telecommunications service but an information service outside the reach of the Title II common carrier rules," the lawmakers wrote. Reps. Joe Barton (R-TX), ranking member of the commerce committee, and Cliff Stearns (R-FL), ranking member of the communications subcommittee, were the lead signatures on the letter. "We write to encourage you not to proceed down your announced path to reclassify broadband service as a phone service," they wrote. "Such a significant interpretive change to the Communications Act should be made by Congress."

Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said, "In signing these letters, the members of Congress from both parties are signaling they would rather be captives of industry than see our country try to regain its leadership, protect consumers and defend the vitality and health of the 'innovation without permission' culture that produced today's Internet."

The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that state governments and other existing awardees in its State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program may seek funding for various initiatives to help their communities compete in the digital economy and for up to three additional years of broadband mapping work.

Launched in 2009, NTIA's State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program implements the joint purposes of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Broadband Data Improvement Act (BDIA). One of the primary purposes of the grant program is to assist states in gathering data on the availability, speed, and location of broadband services. The data they compile and display will also be used to create the comprehensive, interactive national broadband map that NTIA is required by the Recovery Act to produce and make publicly available by February 17, 2011. The map, which NTIA plans to update every six months, will assist consumers with better information on the broadband services available to them and inform policymakers' efforts to increase broadband availability nationwide. To be fiscally prudent, NTIA originally funded state data collection efforts for a two-year period, allowing the agency to assess initial state activities before awarding funding for the remainder of this five-year initiative. With the program well underway, states (or their designees) can now apply for funding under the existing program rules for three additional years of mapping and data collection work. Of significance, states may also seek funding for other activities that support BDIA's goals, including state broadband task forces or advisory boards, technical assistance programs, local or regional technology planning efforts, and programs to promote increased computer ownership and Internet usage. The Recovery Act provided up to $350 million for implementation of the BDIA and to develop and maintain a broadband inventory map. All 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia (or their designated entities) are eligible for funding through NTIA's State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program to support these goals. NTIA has thus far awarded more than $100 million in grants to 54 of the 56 eligible entities to carry out the first two years of broadband data collection and mapping efforts, and for broadband planning activities. NTIA is directly informing the eligible entities that they may submit amended and supplemental applications until July 1, 2010 for additional broadband improvement and mapping activities.

[Commentary] Cities shouldn't be getting into the Internet and cable-TV business. A proposal being pushed in the state Senate to require municipalities to get voter approval if they borrow money to pay for broadband infrastructure doesn't seem like an unreasonable demand.

Cities shouldn't be in the business of competing with private industry. There are a number of options available for people who want to purchase high-speed Internet service. Providers offer broadband through cable connections, DSL, wireless cards that plug into our computers, and satellite connections. They vary in quality, cost, speed and dependability. Not all neighborhoods have the same options. Predictably, rural and less-densely populated areas may have fewer options than central city business districts and urban neighborhoods. Private providers, such as cable companies or telephone companies, provide broadband service to a significant portion of North Carolina's population, but they don't reach into every neighborhood or go down every road in the state. For cities to get deeper into the business of providing broadband connections, they have to take risks that the private providers have decided not to take, either because they haven't had time to extend the service or because they don't see enough profit to warrant the infrastructure investment. Cities take a big risk if they must borrow money to pay to run fiber-optic cable lines. If cities decide to take those risks, the people of those cities, who will eventually pay the bills, should at least be asked whether or not such risk is worth it. An effort to require a referendum for such borrowing is a wise one, and we hope his colleagues in the General Assembly see that wisdom.

We're adding broadband connections to our televisions, our phones, our reading devices and our game consoles these days, to the point that we expect such connections in almost everything we own. But while connectivity is awesome 90 percent of the time, it's also scary because it can turn what were once private habits such as reading a book or answering email into something social — in some cases, without us knowing.

It also allows advertisers to better track our activities and to offer up personalized ads. Thanks to more gadgets with a web connection, we all live in glass houses where friends, neighbors, advertisers and potentially the government can see what we're up to. What's worse is that the records of our daily activities aren't a transitory blip; they're kept for months on end and can be searched, resold or shared.