Blog Archives
AT&T asserts paid prioritization rights to FCC
By Kenneth Corbin | August 31, 2010AT&T has called on the Federal Communications Commission to protect the right of Internet service providers to charge steeper rates for expedited delivery of special types of Web traffic, a major fault line in the debate over net neutrality.
In a letter to the commission dated Monday, the telecom giant argued that the Internet Engineering Task Force has a longstanding mechanism that provides for paid prioritization, or quality-of-service agreements.
AT&T billed its letter as a response to a recent filing from Free Press, in which the media-reform group and staunch net neutrality supporter argued to the commission that ISPs should not be permitted to strike side deals with content providers for preferred delivery.
Hank Hulquist, vice president of AT&T's federal regulatory division, also took to the company's policy blog today to decry what he described as the "Church of Extreme Net Neutrality," by which he meant Free Press and other like-minded groups.
"When it comes to data-driven policy making, there is no room for faith-based initiatives," Hulquist wrote.
MySpace syncs with Facebook, at long last
By Kenneth Corbin | August 30, 2010Any pretense MySpace still had about competing toe-to-toe with Facebook was discarded today, as the slumping social network rolled out a tool for its members to port their status updates and other content to their Facebook profiles.
It's hard not to see the new Sync with Facebook tool as a concession to Facebook's continued dominance as the world's premier (at least by the numbers: 500 million and counting) social network. But in reality, MySpace had thrown in the towel on that one some time ago.
MySpace after all began aggressively cutting its staff and global operations last year, and has moved to rebrand itself as more of a niche community focused on things like music and games, each of which carries revenue possibilities beyond its historically disappointing advertising operations.
Today's launch plays to those strengths in a way, as product director Jennifer Ruffner explains in a blog post: "Sync with Facebook allows users to keep their friends on Facebook up to date on everything, including: sharing songs, latest photos, fun game apps, and more."
Google, AP reach agreement for hosted news
By Kenneth Corbin | August 30, 2010Google has reached a licensing agreement with the Associated Press that will allow it to continue hosting news content from the journalism consortium.
The AP, a cooperative owned by its roughly 1,500 newspaper members, has bristled at the way its content has flowed across the Web, at times without compensation or credit. The organization has leveled criticism against online aggregators for free-riding on the original work produced by its news staff, and threatened (and in some cases taken) legal action against websites that misappropriate its content.
The AP has licensing agreements with large Web portals (and many others) like Google and Yahoo through which those sites pay for the right to post AP stories and images on their news sites. But amid the ongoing saber rattling on the part of the AP and its members about legal action and the need to extract more revenue from the Web, the prospect for renewing those partnerships was called into question.
Google and the AP did not release the terms of the agreement. Instead, Paul Colford, the AP's director of media relations, released a rather cryptic statement, saying, "Under the agreement, AP and Google will also work together in a number of new areas, such as ways to improve discovery and distribution of news."
Josh Cohen, a senior business product manager at Google, wrote in a brief blog post that Google hopes to "work together to create a better user experience and new revenue opportunities."
NAB defends FM radio cell-phone requirements
By Kenneth Corbin | August 26, 2010The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is firing back at a volley of criticism that it has taken over the past week concerning a proposal to require handset makers to include FM radio chips in mobile devices.
The proposal, which is packaged in a compromise legislative framework the NAB reached with the music industry in an attempt to resolve the long-simmering fight battle over performance royalties, drew the ire of several technology trade groups, including the Consumer Electronics Association and CTIA, the principal association representing wireless carriers.
In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, those groups urged lawmakers to ignore the call for mandatory FM chips, claiming that mobile consumers aren't interested in broadcast radio, and that the NAB's claims that the technology would be a boon to public safety are just a smokescreen for a political bid to save a dying industry.
Not so, says Dennis Wharton, the NAB's executive vice president of communications.
Wharton shot back in a blog post on Wednesday, rebutting the claims CTIA, CEA and the other groups point by point.
German law would bar employer Facebook searches
By Kenneth Corbin | August 26, 2010It didn't take long after online social networking took hold as a mainstream technology that the personal monuments people created for themselves on the Web began generating a mounting array of horror stories about employers -- current or prospective -- that came across photos or other content depicting job holders or job seekers engaged in erotic/reckless/illegal/otherwise-unflattering conduct, with a decidedly negative impact on the individuals' employability.
It's become commonplace. It is now a career counselor's stock in trade to warn against posting content that could show you in a negative light on sites like Facebook. President Obama even warned of the perils of Facebook last September. He was talking to students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., and one asked for career advice.
"First of all, I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life," Obama said. "And when you're young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. And I've been hearing a lot about young people who -- you know, they're posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job and somebody has done a search and -- so that's some practical political advice for you right there."
That's one approach. Germany has another.
What if the employer weren't even allowed, under law, to look at an employee's Facebook profile?
What are telecom, tech firms spending on lobbying?
By Kenneth Corbin | August 24, 2010Lobbying data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics does a nice job of reminding us just how expensive the technology-policy wars currently playing out in Washington can get.
Of the top 20 spenders in the first half of 2010, four are connected with the cable and telecom industries. Topping that list was Verizon Communications (No. 10 overall), which has spent $9.19 million so far this year.
At No. 12 was AT&T, which ran up a $9.05 million tab, followed by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), the chief lobby of the cable industry, which spent $7.85 million, landing at No. 17 on the list. At No. 20 was Comcast, which has spent $6.9 million to date.
Each of those entities has been active at the Federal Communications Commission, which has been at the center of a lively debate over what, if any, rules should be applied to how broadband providers manage their networks. Comcast, in addition to the broadband battles, is also trying to win approval of its bid to take a controlling stake in NBC/Universal.
By comparison, the leading spender in the Computers/Internet category was Microsoft, which spread around $3.57 million in the first half of this year to promote its policy interests. HP checked in at a close No. 2, with a tab of $3.42 million.
At No. 3 was Google, which shelled out $2.72 million, followed by IBM ($2.54 million) and Oracle ($2.39 million).
Tech trade groups blast performance rights compromise
By Kenneth Corbin | August 23, 2010A coalition of trade groups is calling on Congress to reject a compromise in a long-simmering policy dispute between broadcasters and the music industry over performance rights that would require mobile device makers to include an FM radio receiver in every handset.
In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary committees delivered Monday, the heads of six trade associations, including wireless group CTIA and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), waded into an issue that had hitherto held little interest for them.
But earlier this month, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) unveiled the sketches of a compromise legislative framework that it has been developing with the MusicFirst Coalition, a group that includes the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other trade organization.
Under the proposed legislation, radio stations would be responsible for paying limited royalties -- capped at 1 percent of revenue but less for many smaller stations under a tiered system -- to performers for playing their songs on the air, a concession the NAB has been unwilling to make throughout the long-running debate.
Obama admin announces $1.8b in broadband awards
By Kenneth Corbin | August 18, 2010The Obama administration on Wednesday announced 94 new stimulus awards for broadband projects, totaling $1.8 billion in new federal grants and loans.
"Today's investment in broadband technology will create jobs across the country and expand opportunities for millions of Americans and American companies," Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement. "In addition to bringing 21st century infrastructure to underserved communities and rural areas, these investments will begin to harness the power of broadband to improve education, health care and public safety."
The economic stimulus package, signed into law last February, committed $7.2 billion to broadband projects, focusing heavily on new deployments, but also setting aside money for programs aimed at driving adoption and mapping the availability of service.
That figure shrank slightly last week with the enactment of the Education Jobs Fund, which siphoned off $302 million from the broadband grants to preserve teachers' jobs.
Rockefeller calls for quick FCC action on USF
By Kenneth Corbin | August 03, 2010A top Senate Democrat is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to move quickly to overhaul the Universal Service Fund (USF) telecom subsidy to deliver broadband to rural areas.
Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.V.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, sent a letter (PDF available here) to each of the five FCC commissioners urging swift action to reform the USF to close the digital divide. Rockefeller framed his letter around the explosion at of the Upper Big Branch mine in his state earlier this year, a disaster that was exacerbated by the lack of communications capacity at the remote site.
"Before temporary satellite services were brought in, responders were forced to drive up and down the mountain from the drill site to the command center to get basic information," he wrote.
"Explosions like what happened at Upper Big Branch may be unique to mining states. But the communications deficit this tragedy exposed is not," he added.
"The stark fact is that the present Universal Service system has failed to provide the kind of ubiquitous service the law requires."
Boucher urges approval of Comcast-NBC merger
By Kenneth Corbin | August 03, 2010A key House Democrat who has been [leading a probe of the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal](http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/news/article.php/3863031) is calling on federal regulatory authorities to approve the $30 billion deal, but attach significant conditions to preserve broad access to content such as online video.
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Internet subcommittee, sent letters to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Christine Varney, the head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, recommending they approve the merger by Dec. 1.
Boucher noted that the combined company would be biggest media firm in the nation, building on Comcast's established position as the No. 1 provider of video and broadband Internet. That pairing of content and distribution has [drawn pointed criticism from a host of advocacy groups](/bus-news/article.php/3851026/Consumer+Groups+Cry+Foul+on+Comcasts+NBC+Play.htm) that generally oppose media consolidation and the policy agenda of big cable and telecom companies.
Boucher acknowledged the heft of the combined company raises some concerns, but he urged the regulators to include certain conditions to their approval of the merger, including the stipulation that Comcast agree not to move video content that is currently available for free on NBC.com behind a subscription-verification wall, such as TV Everywhere.
Similarly, Boucher proposed a condition that would prevent the combined company from locking up exclusive licensing or distribution deals for Web video with other content providers, unless the FCC determined that they serve the public interest. Such a rule would be similar to the prohibition currently in place restricting exclusive deals between cable and satellite-TV providers.
