U.S. consumers want free, ad-supported content and would oppose a law affecting the use of data for advertising, according to a Zogby poll of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted in April and commissioned by the Digital Advertising Alliance, which represents online advertising trade groups. The poll found that 92 percent of U.S. adults think free content “is important to the overall value of the Internet,” 75 percent would rather have ad-supported free content than pay for ad-free content, and 68 percent prefer that some of the ads they see online be directed toward their interests, according to DAA (http://bit.ly/11lvb87). Additionally, 47 percent of those polled “would oppose a law that would restrict how data is used for Internet advertising but also potentially reduced free content availability, compared to only 22 percent that support such a law,” the release said.
The U.S. International Trade Commission changed its rules on Section 337 patent investigations, adopting a July proposal with minor changes. The final rule amends the ITC’s regulations to change filing deadlines and requirements, and “address concerns that have arisen in Commission practice,” the commission said. The final rule takes effect May 20. There are new requirements for complainants. The complainant must specify whether it alleges injury to a domestic industry that exists or a domestic industry that is in the process of being established; specify whether it’s requesting a general exclusion order, a limited exclusion order, and/or cease and desist order; and identify the accused products with a clear statement in plain English. In the proposed rule, the ITC said it would publish the plain English description in the Federal Register institution notice, but it withdrew that requirement in response to comments. Substantial changes to complaints will now restart the institution period. If a complainant significantly amends a complaint prior to institution -- adding, for example, additional respondents or accused products -- the amendment will restart the normal 30-day process for determining whether to institute an investigation. That responds to substantial amendments in past cases which complicated the agency’s ability to get public interest comments, placed additional demands on the commission and effectively reduced the 30-day period that proposed respondents normally have to review the allegations against them, the ITC said. Other changes included letting the commission or an administrative law judge consolidate some investigations. The agency limited depositions and interrogatories. Complainants will be limited to 20 fact depositions as a group, or five per respondent, whichever is more. Respondents as a group will be limited to 20 fact depositions total. If the ITC investigative attorney is a party, he or she is limited to 10 fact depositions. Each party can serve any other party with a maximum of 175 interrogatories. The ITC required itself or its ALJ to issue public versions within 30 days. Some deadlines were also shortened. The commission will have 45 days to determine whether to review the enforcement initial determination, compared with 90 days now.
The FCC will give careful consideration to the Department of Justice’s recent filing on spectrum aggregation (CD April 15 p7), FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in the news conference after the Thursday commission meeting. “Spectrum related issues will continue to be a high priority at the commission for a very long time,” he said. “Both addressing the spectrum crunch and freeing up more spectrum for all mobile carriers and ensuring a competitive landscape.” The wireless industry is no longer headed toward “duopoly,” he said. “The DOJ filing is an important one. It will be considered very seriously in our proceeding.” Jonathan Lee, a former Justice lawyer who does work for carriers, questioned in a blog post the premise of the filing (http://bit.ly/1764qYK). “The Department’s ‘advice’ contained all the acuity, but none of the profanity (and occasional hilarity), of a drunken sports heckler (like Bud Light’s Mr. Pro Sports Heckler Guy),” he said. “The Department’s ‘advice,’ while generally a meandering discussion of points not in contention, such as the DOJ’s horizontal merger analysis and the many benefits of competition, also included such ‘game changing’ spectrum auction tips as ‘protect competition’, ‘don’t award spectrum to buyers that won’t use it efficiently’, and ’spectrum below 1 GHz is cheaper for smaller competitors to use.'"
The Telecommunications Industry Association said Thursday it hopes a series of upcoming conferences will enable the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies to “fulfill their enormous societal and economic potential.” TIA said it will lead an international conference on IoT and M2M standards and protocols May 7 at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta. TIA said it’s leading the conference on behalf of the Global Standards Collaboration (GSC) M2M Standardization Task Force. That conference comes in advance of GSC’s meeting, May 13-16 in Jeju, South Korea. TIA will also host a workshop June 4-5 at its Arlington, Va., headquarters on the intersection of M2M technology and cybersecurity as a path for accelerating IoT and M2M adoption. M2M will also be a key topic at TIA’s annual conference, Oct. 8-10 in Washington (http://bit.ly/15iGjYo).
MaxLinear and Abilis Systems, providers of low-power integrated circuit design for DTV applications, unveiled an eight-channel satellite headless gateway platform. The platform addresses the demand for viewing high-quality content on multiple screens, MaxLinear said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/17J6rva). The devices are network-connected “and accessible by multiple screens in a home,” it said. The platform also converts satellite-TV content into Internet Protocol packets for in-home streaming, “enabling users to enjoy the benefit of watching today’s DTH [direct-to-home] services on televisions as well as on IP-enabled devices,” MaxLinear said. The company said the reference platform is available.
The Senate Communications Subcommittee will hold a hearing to examine the state of wireless communications on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in 253 Russell.
The FCC rejected the American Radio Relay League’s petition on the commission’s second report and order on broadband over powerline systems. “We conclude that our previous decisions in this proceeding strike an appropriate balance between the dual objectives of providing for Access BPL technology -- which has potential applications for broadband and Smart Grid uses -- while protecting incumbent radio services against harmful interference,” the FCC said (http://bit.ly/13oAvN4). “We deny the ARRL petition for reconsideration; it does not raise new arguments based on new information in the record or on the Commission’s new analysis of limited points as directed by the Court, nor does it demonstrate any errors or omissions in the Commission’s previous decisions.” The agency adopted BPL rules in 2004 and affirmed them on reconsideration in 2006.
Preston Davis, retired president of broadcast operations and engineering for ABC, died of an illness Monday in Sarasota, Fla., at 63. After joining ABC in 1976, Davis went on to become the first African American to be president of any Capital Cities/ABC division in the history of the company. Davis is survived by his wife and two children. Funeral services will be held Saturday at the Woodland Community Church in Bradenton, Fla., and donations in his honor may be made to the Center for Building Hope in Sarasota.
The Senate Commerce Committee plans a privacy hearing to examine the development of voluntary Do-Not-Track standards, said a news release Wednesday. The hearing will be at 2:30 p.m. April 24 in 253 Russell. Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said in the release: “Industry made a public commitment to honor Do-Not-Track requests from consumers but has not yet followed through. I plan to use this hearing to find out what is holding up the development of voluntary Do-Not-Track standards that should have been adopted at the end of last year.”
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is doing tests in New York City of emergency communications in underground tunnels and in “other large, complicated structures, posing a safety hazard for emergency responders,” NIST said Wednesday. “In a series of experiments conducted in New York City, an epicenter of underground tunnels and high-rise buildings, NIST researchers measured path loss, or reduced signal strength, which can occur when signals must travel through thick walls and dense material,” the agency said. “NIST researchers also found that wireless emergency beacons could be unreliable beyond the street-level stairwell entrance to a four-level subway station, and that signal strength depended on the frequency used in the 100-story Empire State Building.” The findings are part of a new report (http://1.usa.gov/Zs0yPB).