The election is almost certain to mean a change in leadership at the FCC, with Julius Genachowski widely expected to leave in early 2013 even if President Barack Obama is reelected. As is typical for this point in an election cycle, rumors are swirling in the communications industry about who will take over.
The election is almost certain to mean a change in leadership at the FCC, with Julius Genachowski widely expected to leave in early 2013 even if President Barack Obama is reelected. As is typical for this point in an election cycle, rumors are swirling in the communications industry about who will take over.
Hurricane Sandy began pounding the East Coast with high winds and rain this week, causing several governors to declare states of emergency and triggering widespread concern of outages. State commissions began watching as telcos, 911 centers, county officials and cable operators braced for the impact. The storm was expected to continue Tuesday, and the Office of Personnel Management said federal offices in the Washington area would for a second day be closed to the public (http://xrl.us/bnwozb).
Two groups are working together for an online safety campaign in the 20 Asian-Pacific nations where the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team has members, APCERT and the “Stop. Think. Connect.” Messaging Convention said Friday. The groups’ memorandum of understanding signed to promote the “Stop. Think. Connect.” campaign is the first time the convention got such a pact with a multilateral trade association, they said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bnv7ur). It said the groups will work on “cybersecurity awareness at the individual user level."
Oct. 29 FCBA Intellectual Property Committee brown bag lunch on Internet Radio Fairness Act, 12:15 p.m., Wilkinson Barker, 2300 N St. NW, Suite 7 -- http://xrl.us/bimfn6
Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., reaffirmed during a speech Thursday at a Media Institute event his support to stem the tide of online piracy of intellectual property. The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman told us that unfavorable results for his party in the presidential and congressional elections could imperil his efforts to update laws like the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and a reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Leahy’s speech touted the Internet as a medium that has both enhanced and transformed the First Amendment right to free speech, but said the Web must be balanced with another constitutional right, the protection of intellectual property.
Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., reaffirmed during a speech Thursday at a Media Institute event his support to stem the tide of online piracy of intellectual property. The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman told us that unfavorable results for his party in the presidential and congressional elections could imperil his efforts to update laws like the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and a reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Leahy’s speech touted the Internet as a medium that has both enhanced and transformed the First Amendment right to free speech, but said the Web must be balanced with another constitutional right, the protection of intellectual property.
Despite many warnings that Internet growth is unsustainable, its predicted collapse didn’t happen and won’t, Analysys Mason said in an Internet Society-commissioned study. The latest alarms appear to stem mostly from the burgeoning global demand for mobile broadband access and usage, it said. But the same forces that met earlier challenges are already addressing the new demands, particularly in developing countries, it said. Generally, in the face of new demands, networks can either boost their capacity or find ways to reduce the capacity required, the study said. Both approaches are usually followed, based on several overlapping responses, it said: (1) New core and access technologies are developed to increase capacity in existing networks and make new investment more efficient. (2) Investments are made to upgrade existing networks with the new technology such as fiber or submarine cables, and where upgrades aren’t possible or sufficient to meet demand, networks are extended. (3) New technologies and business models are created to distribute content to many locations, making it closer to end users and cheaper to deliver. Three related changes that have altered traffic flow to increase its delivery are Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), content delivery networks and cloud services, it said. Those trends have lowered the demand on international and national infrastructure by allowing providers to move content to caches in IXPs and data centers close to end-users, it said. Along with infrastructure investment, that activity has significantly improved Internet sustainability in the face of growing demand and new applications, it said. All indicators show that this process is repeating itself as pressure on the Internet grows, particularly those of meeting mobile broadband demand in emerging markets, it said. Many recent doubts suggest that the issue of sustainability is global when in fact developed and developing regions are at very different stages, with telecom markets in developing counties growing faster and receiving more investment than those in the more saturated nations, it said. The evidence shows that multinational operators are already opting to direct their investments to developing areas, which are also getting significant funding from domestic and regional players, it said. Those investments should ensure that Internet growth is sustainable without any global regulation, it said. Emerging markets will face challenges akin to or more acute than those in developing countries when deploying network infrastructure nationwide because of low income levels and/or high unemployment in some regions. But there’s no evidence that those shortfalls in meeting demand can’t be addressed with best-practice policy and regulation that focus on more investment and access, it said. In developing areas, investment is taking place in submarine cables to connect coastal countries to one another and other continents, and in terrestrial fiber to connect ISP points of presence to submarine cable landing stations and enable ISPs in landlocked nations to access submarine cable capacity in adjacent countries. There is also investment in traffic exchange solutions to allow ISPs to exchange traffic with each other and access content caches; and in last-mile access, especially mobile infrastructure, to cover populations and/or be upgraded to offer broadband Internet access. In addition, content providers are investing in ways to deliver traffic to developing economies, it said. Examples such as Google Global Cache’s African network with cache servers and points of presence, and Facebook Zero’s low bandwidth text version of its mobile site, show that there’s a connection between the value content providers receive from delivering their content to end-users in developing markets, and the investments they're willing to make to make the process more efficient, Analysys Mason said. It’s true that there are still roadblocks to the expansion of mobile Internet access, given the amount of territory to be covered and the income levels of potential users, it said. Those challenges need policy and regulatory responses such as market liberalization and/or targeted, creative policy and regulatory access programs. But there’s “no indication that the Internet and its growth are unsustainable in developing regions, or that any outside global intervention is required,” it said.
Public safety officials said Wednesday they hope an upcoming test being done by the FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) will give them factual, documented evidence of the current limits of technology they use to determine the location of people using mobile phones dial 911. The testbed, set to be used next month at locations around San Francisco, will examine how those technologies perform in a variety of locations in urban, suburban and rural areas, said Patrick Donovan, an attorney adviser for the policy division of the FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. CSRIC will draft a report based on those tests in March, including recommendations to help improve the accuracy of indoor location tracking. CSRIC began developing the test bed after it realized data on indoor location accuracy was limited, Donovan said.
The Internet allows "microbusinesses" to thrive in sales abroad, and the U.S. government should develop policies to encourage that growth, said e-commerce and trade experts at a panel discussion hosted by eBay and the National Foreign Trade Council Oct. 24. The event coincided with eBay's release of a report focused on how 97 percent of its commercial users, including small sellers, use the website to sell to customers abroad. The U.S. government can take steps, both within its own policies and when negotiating trade agreements with other nations, to help Internet-enabled small businesses grow, panelists said, echoing the findings and suggestions in the report. The eBay report is available (here).