public policy

Californians' ground truth begins to paint a better broadband availability picture

15 January 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

Crowdsourced data has been added to the California Public Utilities Commission’s broadband availability map, along with updated information submitted by service providers and developed by the CPUC’s own mobile field testing program.

The new map takes a long step toward bridging the gap between the advertising claims that carriers make – which is also the basis for what they report to the CPUC – and what consumers can actually buy. The public feedback information – “layers” in mapping jargon – shows locations from where people have filed personal reports about the service they’re getting.… More

Court rules FCC out of bounds on network neutrality

14 January 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Leaving the neutral zone.

The FCC can’t tell Internet service providers how to manage their traffic and pricing schemes. That was the ruling this morning from a federal appeals court that said the commission can’t prevent service providers from blocking subscribers from a particular website or type of service – video streaming, for example – or charging more to access it.

In doing so, the court agreed with the two republican-appointed commissioners, Ajit Pai and Michael Rielly, who said last week that the FCC’s network neutrality rules went beyond what congress had allowed.… More

FCC chair Wheeler says it's time to cowboy up

13 January 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Be careful where the bull throws you.

“This is not my first rodeo. I played in the formulating of the rules for the very first spectrum auction”, said FCC chair Tom Wheeler, at CES last week. “I went around with my hair on fire talking about the end of western civilisation if they don’t do it my way”.

Wheeler was CEO of the National Cable Television Association from 1979 to 1984 and of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) from 1992 to 2004, the Washington DC-based national trade associations for the cable television and mobile phone industries.… More

FCC puzzles mobile broadband crunch and spectrum auctions

10 January 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

Washington works by twists and turns.

“I keep describing it as a Rubik’s cube”, said FCC chair Tom Wheeler as he answered questions at CES about plans to auction off television frequencies for mobile broadband use. Like a Rubik’s cube, it’s a constantly moving problem on three axes: a reverse auction to buy back TV channels and a regular auction to sell the bandwidth to mobile phone companies, all while repacking television stations into less spectrum.… More

Wheeler's success as FCC chair hinges on his enthusiasm for intervention

9 January 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

So far, so collegial at the FCC, commissioners Pai and Rosenworcel at CES.

Chairman Tom Wheeler’s intention of enforcing a “network compact” via the FCC’s Internet neutrality rule – the open Internet order – won’t go down well with republican-appointed commissioners, but his idea of case by case review might.

“The open internet order was a solution in search of a problem”, said commissioner Ajit Pai at CES yesterday. “The FCC lacks the authority to promulgate the rule”.… More

International passengers make voice calls on planes, politely

9 January 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Can’t we all just get along?

“At Delta, we’re very much promoting cellular transmission on airplanes but not voice calls”, said Kirk Thornburg, an engineering executive for the airline. Chuck Cook, his counterpart at JetBlue, agrees. “We do not support the use of cellular voice airborne, that’s customer driven”.

In fact, nearly everyone on this morning’s CES panel discussing consumer electronics on airplanes agreed that passengers should be able to use cellular data services in the air, but shouldn’t be allowed to talk on their phones.… More

$170 million in California broadband subsidy proposals await decisions

9 January 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

The latest update from the California Public Utilities Commission shows that 12 projects are still in the hunt for subsidies from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Eleven projects, totalling $30 million in grants and $41,000 in loans, have been approved. Nine have either been rejected by commission staff or are on hold.

One of the pending projects – a $1 million DSL upgrade proposed by Ponderosa Telephone Company in Fresno County – is due for a vote by the commission next week.… More

Consumer gizmos might get the same kind of regulatory attention as radio transmitters

8 January 2014 by Steve Blum
, , , , ,

Bandwidth hog?

“There is no spectrum shortage, what we have is a spectrum utilisation problem”, said Austin Schlick, director of communications law at Google. Several solutions were offered as technology executives and policy makers talked about “slicing the nation’s airwaves” at CES this afternoon.

One suggestion that would have a major impact on consumer electronics companies, not to mention consumers, is to start regulating wireless receivers in something like the same way that the FCC regulates transmitters.… More

U.S. commerce secretary needs congress' help to let skilled people in and kick patent trolls out

8 January 2014 by Steve Blum
,

Steve Jobs called it right.

Reforming U.S. visa rules, particularly for highly educated employees, and patent troll protection are major concerns for technology companies. Both of those policy initiatives are priorities for the Obama administration, but are being left in the hands of congress for now, according U.S. commerce secretary Penni Pritzker.

“I think there’s a window in the first half of this year to get immigration reform done”, she said.

She was interviewed on stage at CES this morning by Consumer Electronics Association president Gary Shapiro, who suggested that passing the changes that republicans and democrats agree on, such as fewer visa restrictions for highly skilled workers, is a better approach.… More

Can things play by human rules on the Internet?

8 January 2014 by Steve Blum
, , ,

The etiquette of things.

“Good practice, when it comes to handling data, is not something new, it’s something we’ve already done well”, said Marc Rogers, an Internet security researcher. “We have to be careful we don’t get paralysed by worrying about exotic threats”. He was speaking on a panel this morning at CES that looked at the need, or not, for regulating the so-called Internet of things (IoT). When a device in a home, a thermostat for example, automatically sends information to a private company – an electric utility, say – it might not be done with the same degree of privacy and consent that’s involved when a person manually enters data on a website.… More