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Telecom/IT Policy Highlights

Volume: 6.02
February 2006

Contents:
Overview
Policy / Legislative Activities
Regulatory Activities
Judicial Activities
Research / Reports
Items of Interest
Events
Newsletter Info
  • Overview

    Affordable broadband Internet access for every American remains a top priority for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Congress. In February lawmakers introduced legislation pertaining to the Universal Service Fund, spectrum allocation, and emergency preparedness. In addition, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation held hearings on Net Neutrality, Municipal Broadband Networks, and Video Franchising. The FCC addressed these issues as well, and various consumer groups and municipalities also weighed in on these topics.

    FCC Commissioner Michael Copps addressed attendees at the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) annual conference in San Diego earlier this month. Copps told the audience, comprised of rural telecom providers, "We need a national broadband strategy because I don’t think we have one now, and to do it we need much more public and private sector partnerships. Our broadband ox is in a ditch." Copps stressed the need to establish a coherent broadband strategy for the country to efficaciously bridge the digital gap between rural and urban, rich and poor areas.


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  • Policy / Legislative Activities

    Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities Addressed in House
    02.07.2006 – Representative Jim Langevin (D-RI) and 13 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives have introduced the “Emergency Preparedness and Response for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2006” [H.R. 4704]. This proposed legislation addresses a variety of issues faced by people with disabilities before, during and, after a national disaster. The bill, if ratified, would establish a Disability Coordinator within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); amend the Stafford Disaster Relief Act, "the law that authorizes specific federal assistance in times of an emergency,” according to the National Council on Disability; and require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a national study of emergency shelters, as it is unclear how many shelters are accessible under Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). One of the roles of the DHS Disability Coordinator is to ensure the accessibility of information about evacuation and disaster relief via telephone hotlines, websites and other broadcasts.
    [Source: Library of Congress, National Council on Disability]

    Municipal Networks Hearing Held by Senate Commerce Committee
    02.14.06 – The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation held a full committee hearing on State and Local Issues and Municipal Networks. Legislators heard testimony in favor of, and in opposition to municipal broadband projects. Proponents of municipal broadband argue such initiatives ensure access for all and will quickly bridge the digital divide by providing broadband access to poor, typically underserved areas. Opponents—telecommunications and cable companies—expressed concern that the prospect of competing against the government will chill private investment.

    Three proposed bills seek to address municipal broadband projects. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), John McCain (R-AZ), John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Russell Feingold (D-WI), and Norm Coleman (D-MN) are current sponsors of the "Community Broadband Act of 2005" [S. 1294], a bill that would prevent states from prohibiting public sector entrants into the broadband business. The act would override laws in 14 states that prohibit municipal broadband initiatives. John Ensign (R-NV) and 16 Senate co-sponsors have introduced the "Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act" [S. 1504]. This bill seeks to limit municipal involvement by allowing public sector projects only when the private provider has granted the locality permission. Finally, the "Preserving Innovation in Telecom Act of 2005" [H.R. 2726] sponsored by Representatives Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Jeff Miller (R-FL) would strictly prohibit municipal broadband projects unless there is no private company nearby capable of providing high speed Internet access.

    For a list of witnesses for the Senate Commerce Committee hearing and links to testimony, please see [http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1706]
    [Sources: U.S. Senate, Library of Congress, C|NET, Multichannel News, FreePress]

    Net Neutrality Hearing Held by Senate Commerce Committee
    02.07.06 – The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation also held a full committee hearing on net neutrality. The Committee received testimony from broadband Internet providers, Internet content companies, and a number of Internet scholars.

    The net neutrality debate hinges on whether Congress should develop legislation that prohibits broadband Internet providers (who own the network infrastructure) to transmit their own services at faster speeds or charge content providers such as Google and eBay a premium for equally fast carriage, a practice known as access-tiering. Broadband Internet providers want to reserve this right, stating in effect that the right to control data streams over their pipes will encourage further infrastructure investment and deployment, which will in turn benefit end users. But others on the panel spoke in favor of cementing Network Neutrality. Lawmakers seem reluctant to alter the status quo since broadband providers have not yet impaired content providers. Senator George Allen (R-VA) summarized the bind lawmakers are in: "Right now we don't have a problem. Do you pass a law presently or do you pass a law retroactively to try to put the genie back in the bottle?" A copy of the net neutrality hearing’s witness list and links to relevant testimony may be found at
    [ http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1705].
    [Sources: U.S. Senate, Reuters, C|NET]

    NetUSA Act Introduced to Revamp Universal Service Fund
    02.08.06 – Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) introduced the "Internet and Universal Service Act of 2006" or NetUSA Act [S. 2256]. Because consumers are moving away from landlines and towards new technologies like e-mail and VoIP, the Universal Service Fund (USF) is taking in less money each year. In a letter to President Bush introducing the bill, Senator Burns stated his legislation would adapt the USF to the changing technological landscape and speed up broadband deployment in rural areas. Senator Burns also stressed the USF as crucial to ensuring that schools and libraries can access the Internet. He also noted the USF has can foster "telemedicine" by linking rural health care facilities to urban medical centers.

    Currently the USF is funded by a nationwide percentage of revenue earned by telecommunication companies from interstate and international calls. Burns' legislation substitutes the percentage-based model with a flat-fee of $1-2 per phone line. The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation scheduled a hearing on the USF on February 28, 2006.
    [Sources: Library of Congress, U.S. Senate, Telephony Online, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, PRNewswire]

    Spectrum "White Space" Addressed in Two Senate Bills
    02.21.06 – Senators George Allen (R-VA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), John Kerry (D-MA), and John Sununu (R-NH) introduced the "Wireless Innovation Act" or WINN Act [S. 2327] and Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) introduced the "American Broadband for Communities Act" or ABC Act [S. 2332]. Both bills propose directing the FCC to free up unused television broadcast airwaves known as "white spaces" to fuel unlicensed wireless broadband applications. If passed, the WINN Act would allow for unlicensed wireless activities on any unused portion of the analog TV band, whereas the passage of the ABC Act would free up only certain portions of the dormant spectrum. Both bills call for the FCC to conclude a rulemaking procedure initiated in 2004 [FCC 04-4013] to resolve interference stemming from the unlicensed operation in the television broadcast bands. The Commission must establish rules to ensure wireless applications on the band do not interfere with television signals. Consumer groups believe the measures will facilitate municipal broadband projects and other non-profit community efforts to deploy wireless networks. In particular, the liberated spectrum will enable less expensive and more pervasive wireless networks in rural and low-income areas.
    For a copy of the FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addressed by both bills, see [http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-04-4013A1.txt].
    [Sources: Library of Congress, FCC, C|NET, Consumers Union, Spectrum Policy]

    Video Franchising Addressed by Senate Commerce Committee
    02.15.06 – The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation held a full committee hearing on Video Franchising. Telephone companies like Verizon and AT&T favor changes to state and federal laws that will grant them statewide or perhaps even nationwide franchise agreements, thus obviating the need to negotiate individual deals with municipalities. Earlier this month, ranking Senate Commerce Committee member Conrad Burns (R-MT) and co-Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) offered three principles they believe are critical to video-franchising reform legislation:
      (1) Recognize and Reaffirm the Role of States and Localities in the Video Franchising Process;
      (2) Promote Competition by Facilitating Speedy Entry on Fair Terms; and
      (3) Promote Competitive Neutrality and a Level Playing Field.

    The "Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act" [S. 1504] sponsored by Senator Ensign and 16 other senators, mentioned in the above story about municipal broadband, is relevant to video franchising as well. The legislation would eliminate the need for any television provider—whether cable telephone or something different altogether—to obtain a local or statewide franchise. However, the bill would still let cities negotiate some terms of video franchises. Opponents of statewide and nationwide franchises fear that such agreements will allow incoming video service providers to systematically redline minority and low-income communities. For a witness list and links to testimony in the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on video franchising, see [http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1700].
    [Sources: U.S. Senate, Library of Congress, Telephony Online, Forbes, CIO, Los Angeles Times]


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  • Regulatory Activities

    FCC Examines Need for Tougher Privacy Rules
    02.10.06 – The FCC adopted and released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [FCC 06-10], seeking comment on issues related to security measures that telecommunications carriers have in place to protect consumers' phone records from falling into the wrong hands. Last month it was widely reported that unscrupulous data brokers could gain access to customer phone records under false pretenses (by posing as the customer, for example) in order to resell this information via the Internet. The NPRM seeks comment on five topics:
       • Passwords set by consumers;
       • Audit trails that record all instances when a customer’s records have been accessed, whether information was disclosed, and to whom;
       • Encryption by carriers of stored Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) data;
       • Limits on data retention that require deletion of call records when they are no longer needed; and
       • Notice provided by companies to customers when the security of their CPNI may have been breached.

    The NPRM will likely lead to new requirements for established carriers and may also impact start-up providers of VoIP and other IP-enabled services. The deadline for comments will be 30 days after the NPRM’s publication in the Federal Register, and for reply comments will be 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. A copy of the Notice may be found at [http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-10A1.txt].
    [Sources: FCC; Cole, Raywid & Braverman, LLP; Direct Marketing Association]

    Lifeline and Linkup Website Launched
    02.07.06 – The Joint FCC/National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC)/National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) Working Group launched a new website to provide information about Lifeline and Link-up telephone services. These programs that provide discounts to low-income households for the initial installation of phone service (Link-Up) and monthly phone bills (Lifeline). The address of the new website is [http://www.lifeline.gov].
    [Source: FCC]

    Modification to Rules for Advanced Wireless Services Auction Considered
    02.03.06 – The FCC released a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [FCC 06-8] to facilitate the participation of small businesses in competitive bidding, specifically in the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) Auction slated for June 29, 2006. In the past, the FCC has encouraged small businesses to participate in the auction process by offering bidding credits and reserving spectrum blocks specifically for small businesses. In this NPRM the FCC seeks comment on whether it should "restrict the award of [designated entity (DE)] benefits in cases where an otherwise qualified DE has a 'material relationship' with a large entity that has a significant interest in the provision of communications services, such as voice or data providers, content providers, equipment manufacturers, other media interests, and/or facilities or non-facilities based communications services providers."

    Comments regarding the NPRM are due 14 days after its publication in the Federal Register, and reply comments are due 21 days following its publication in the Federal Register. A copy of the NPRM may be obtained at
    [ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-8A1.txt].
    [Source: FCC]


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  • Judicial Activities

    MPAA Files Lawsuits Targeting BitTorrent Sites
    02.23.06 – The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed seven lawsuits in federal courts across the country against "highly trafficked Torrent, eDonkey, and Newsgroup websites that are responsible for facilitating illegal swapping of copyrighted files between millions of users around the world." The MPAA also cited Torrentspy.com and Isohunt.com as two of the most popular sites for downloading pirated content.
    [Source: Motion Picture Association of America]

    Perfect 10 Granted Preliminary Injunction against Google
    02.25.06 – In Perfect 10 v. Google, Inc., et al., a judge in the United States District Court for the Central District of California has ruled that Google search results containing thumbnail-sized pornographic images appropriated by rogue websites from the Perfect 10 website violate copyright law because it undermines Perfect 10's ability to license those images for use on mobile phones. Perfect 10 submitted a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaint to Google in June 2004 listing sites that contained images owned by Perfect 10. Google did not remove the offending sites from its index.

    The decision handed down by Judge A. Howard Matz appears to be in conflict with the ruling in a similar case in a higher court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which includes California. The ruling in Kelly v. Arriba Soft said the use of thumbnail images in an Internet search engine did not violate rights of the copyright owner. Fair use provisions in the Kelly case were reified because the thumbnails were not perceived to have any commercial value due to their low resolution and small size.

    The New York Times reports the Perfect 10 decision could impact the legal battles stemming from Google's Book Search program, a project dedicated to scanning and digitizing the contents of several university libraries, making certain libraries' entire collections available for online search. However, this seems unlikely because the cases themselves are so different and were filed in different courts.
    [Sources: U.S. District Court for Central California, New York Times, Slashdot]


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  • Research / Reports

    FCC Report Finds Benefits in a la carte Model for Video Programming
    02.09.06 – The Media Bureau of the FCC issued a “Further Report on the Packaging and Sale of Video Programming Services to the Public.” The report discusses the prospect of a pay-per-channel or a la carte model for the delivery of video services. The report concludes consumers might be better off under an a la carte pricing model and suggests different scenarios that might provide substantial benefits to consumers by increasing their choices when it comes to purchasing video services. For a copy of the FCC’s video report, please see
    [ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-263740A1.txt].
    [Source: FCC]

    Public Knowledge Releases Net Neutrality Report
    02.06.06 – Public Knowledge has released a report entitled “Good Fences Make Bad Broadband,” which advocates net neutrality. The report warns that recent rulings by the Supreme Court and FCC that define broadband networks as unregulated "information services" means that the operators of broadband networks are no longer under any legal obligation to keep their networks open to all Internet content, services, and equipment. Those readers interested in Public Knowledge’s report on net neutrality may find it at [ http://static.publicknowledge.org/pdf/pk-net-neutrality-whitep-20060206.doc] (MS Word document only).
    [Source: Public Knowledge]

    Technology CEO Council: Revamp of U.S. Spectrum Policy02.23.06 – The Technology CEO Council—a consortium of chief executives from leading high tech companies including Dell, IBM, and Intel, among others—released a report entitled “Freeing Our Unused Spectrum: Toward a 21st Century Telecom Policy.” The 24 page report urges Congress to restructure the nation's spectrum policy in order to maximize spectrum that is currently available and accommodate wireless technologies that lay just beyond the horizon. The report analyzes current spectrum use by governments, businesses, and organizations, and is mindful of individual users as well. The authors of the report discuss cognitive radios, smart antennas, ultra-wideband devices, mesh networks and other topics related to emergency communications. One of the report's concluding recommendations is that Congress create a funding mechanism to assist public safety organizations and other government agencies in the deployment of advanced wireless technologies and make their networks interoperable. Readers interested in reading the council’s report may find it online at [ http://www.techceocouncil.org/documents/TCC-radiospectrumfinal3.pdf] (PDF only).
    [Source: Technology CEO Council]

    Video Competition Report
    02.10.05 – At a meeting held in Keller, Texas,—the city where Verizon debuted its FiOS fiber-to-the-home network for Internet and video services and the state where lawmakers obviated the need for video service providers to obtain local franchises in lieu of a single franchise that covers the whole state—the FCC adopted its 12th “Annual Assessment of the Status of Competition in the Market for the Delivery of Video Programming.” The report found that cable companies remain the primary video providers in the country, but their foothold is slipping somewhat as satellite TV and telephone companies make inroads into the video market. Between June 2004 and June 2005, the FCC noted a decrease of 2.2 percent, from 71.6 percent to 69.4 percent, of pay TV subscribers who subscribe to a service offered by a franchised cable operator.

    Because cable rates increased at a rate far out-stripping inflation for yet another consecutive year, policymakers hope that a more competitive landscape will lower prices for consumers. A copy of the FCC press release is available at [ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-263763A1.txt]. The report should be released shortly.
    [Sources: FCC, Forbes, Internet News]

    Broadband Deployment in the U.S.02.01.06 – As of January 2006, the US is ranked 19th in the world in broadband penetration according to figures released by Telecompaper. About 33 percent of the households in the US have broadband access. Slovenia is on pace to pass the United States in this metric sometime in 2007. The US is currently ranked first in the world in terms of the total number of broadband subscribers with 42,172,000. However, China is projected to surpass the US before the end of the year.
    [Sources: Telecompaper.com, Free Press]


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  • Items of Interest

    Public WiFi Coming to San Francisco, Chicago
    02.22.06 – It was announced that Google has teamed up with Earthlink to potentially deploy San Francisco's wireless network. According to the joint proposal, city residents would be offered access to a free and a pay network. Google would manage the free (300Kbps) tier of the service, while Earthlink would manage the premium (1Mbps) tier for a monthly fee of less than $20. Other companies that have bid on the project include MetroFi, Communication Bridge Global, NextWLAN, Razortooth Communications and SF Metro Connect, which is an alliance of SeaKay, Cisco Systems and IBM. Chicago announced this month that the city is taking proposals to erect its own municipal WiFi network.
    [Sources: Mercury News, Ars Technica]

    U.S. Website FirstGov.gov Updated
    02.15.06 – The comprehensive federal Web site, www.firstgov.gov, has been updated. The site, which allows users to download tax forms, collect all sorts of economic statistics, and learn about consumer scams, now offers a robust search engine that crawls more than 40 million documents. The new search engine is operated for $1.8 million a year under a contract with two private companies, Microsoft and Vivisimo Inc.
    [Source: Washington Post]


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  • Events

    Call for Papers: Telecom Conference @ George Mason University
    The 34th Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy will be held at The National Center for Technology & Law at George Mason University’s School of Law in Arlington, Virginia, from Friday, September 29, 2006 through Sunday, October 1, 2006. Conference organizers state two primary goals for the conference: (1) disseminate research relevant to current communications regulatory and policy debates around the world; and (2) promote new research on emerging issues. Abstracts are due on or before March 31, 2006. For a copy of the CFP, please see [ http://www.tprc.org/TPRC06/call06.htm].


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  • Newsletter Info

    Center for Advanced Communications Policy
    Telecom/IT Policy Highlights Volume 6.02
    February 2006
    Michael Wilt, Editor
    Lynzee Head, Editor in Chief

    Telecom/IT Policy Highlights presents legislative, regulatory, legal, and other items of interest pertinent to information, telecommunications, and related technology policy and research. For additional information regarding the information provided in this report, or if there are newsworthy items that should be included in future editions, please contact , Graduate Research Assistant, or , Research Scientist.
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