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Broadband
Panelists Sketch Ideas For Boosting High-Speed Web
by Winter Casey
Congress can take steps to encourage the growth of affordable, high-speed Internet penetration across the United States, witnesses testified Wednesday during a House subcommittee hearing.
Lawmakers can promote broadband deployment by making permanent the ban on taxing Internet access, said William Deere, a vice president at the U.S. Telecom Association. Congress also should encourage the Rural Utilities Service to enhance incentives for the private sector to provide broadband in rural and remote areas, he told the Small Business Committee's Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship Subcommittee.
FCC member Jonathan Adelstein added his voice to the call for tax incentives and said Congress could provide "adequate" funding for broadband loans and grants from the utilities service, too.
U.S. telecommunications additionally would be furthered if lawmakers improved depreciation rules for capital investments in targeted telecom services, upped investment in basic research and development for telecom innovation, and improved mathematics and science education, he said.
"Ensuring the vitality of universal service" is critical as technology continues to evolve, Adelstein noted in a reference to the federal fund that subsidizes telecom service in poor and rural areas.
Adelstein voiced concern about the lack of a comprehensive U.S. broadband deployment plan and blamed that shortcoming for the U.S. decline in global broadband rankings. "Virtually every other developed country has implemented a national broadband strategy," he said.
Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., said he is concerned that "many rural and agriculture-based communities are not yet fully realizing the potential value of broadband services to their economies. ... We must ensure that the needs of rural small businesses are taken into account whenever local, state or federal governments act to change the broadband marketplace."
Russell Kremer, president of the Missouri Farmers Union, warned that the lack of high-speed access may be "driving the younger generation out of rural America and into more urban environments."
Brent Christensen said companies like his, the local telecom carrier Christensen Communications based in southern Minnesota, look to Congress for "leadership on issues and programs that give us the opportunity to thrive, and in turn keep our customers and community thriving. We ask Congress to continue to support a strong and viable universal service fund."
Christensen said Congress and the FCC also need to support reform of the system that governs the rate telecom carriers pay for connecting calls to each other's networks. And he touted the programs at the utilities service and the Small Business Administration.
Russell Shields of Ygomi Group, a technology development and holding company, talked about the value of incentives for companies like his that are developing emerging technologies and building businesses in rural areas. He said they need "favorable business incentives that take into account investments in the community, equipment, wages and training.
"This will require the implementation of national policies that encourage investment in new and diverse communications technologies, the promotion of competition as a means of facilitating universal deployment of broadband technologies, and fiscal incentives for broadband deployment," Shields added.
For more on the hearing, see separate brief.
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Broadband
Maine Lawmakers Prep For Net Neutrality Debate
by Michael Martinez
Lawmakers in Maine are set to debate legislation Thursday that aims to ensure the equal treatment of content on high-speed Internet networks.
The Joint Utilities and Energy Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on a measure, L.D. 1675, that would impose so-called network neutrality regulations prohibiting broadband providers from blocking or degrading competitors' content, or interfering with access to their networks.
A coalition of consumer and civil liberties advocates, including Common Cause and the Maine Civil Liberties Union, has endorsed the bill. Rachel Myers, an MCLU field organizer, said the federal government has not done enough to protect Internet freedom, and it is time for states to get more involved.
"Somebody has to do something about [net neutrality]," she said. "It's been our experience that once you get the ball rolling, you can provide the impetus to push legislation at the federal level."
U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, has been an advocate for network neutrality in Congress. She has teamed with Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., on a bill to mandate safeguards at the federal level. Myers said supporters of the state bill in Maine are hoping that it will force action in Congress on Snowe's bill.
But Verizon Communications spokesman Dan Breton, who is slated to testify at the hearing, said the Maine Legislature is not an appropriate venue for a discussion on network neutrality. He said the pending measure not only would be pre-empted by federal law, but it also is a solution in search of a problem because there is no evidence of unequal content treatment.
"We're walking in there clean," he said. "As a matter of business, Verizon has not and will not interfere with or degrade access to the Internet. There's no problem to be fixed here."
Lawmakers in other states have tried recently to move on network neutrality. Maryland Delegate Herman Taylor offered a bill earlier this year that would have required broadband providers to make information about their services publicly available through the state's Public Service Commission. He pulled the bill amid complaints about its nonbinding net neutrality language.
Myers said broadband access also is one of the key drivers of the Maine proposal. She said one of the primary goals is to ensure that all of the state's residents enjoy the benefits of expected growth in the broadband market.
Breton agreed that Maine needs to be more focused on its goal of universal broadband. But he said the Connect ME initiative launched recently by Gov. John Baldacci is a good start, and the network neutrality issue could hinder progress.
"Boy is it the wrong time to bring up something like this when we're trying to attract more broadband investments to the state," Breton said. "The governor's got a good plan."
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Budget
White House, House GOP Blast Security Legislation
by Chris Strohm
The White House on Wednesday threatened to veto the fiscal 2008 Homeland Security Department authorization bill, as Republicans took to the House floor to decry a Democratic debate rule for the bill that prevent amendments.
One after one, Republican lawmakers said they were denied by the Democratic-dominated House Rules Committee from offering amendments to the bill, which would authorize about $40 billion in spending for security programs. Republicans also complained that Democrats stripped or altered, without consulting the GOP, nearly 40 provisions after House Homeland Security Committee approval.
"This deal makes a mockery of the democratic process ... and unfortunately will probably make our country less safe," said Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. "Welcome to homeland security, Democratic style."
In a procedural move, Republicans voted against the rule that prevented their amendments, but the rule was adopted 222-197. A total of 21 amendments are slated to be debated. Aides hope that a final vote on the bill will be held late Wednesday.
The White House said the bill would interfere with the department's management authorities, hinder its ability to conduct various missions, and conflict with the fiscal 2008 budget request for the department. The White House added that some provisions in the bill "would raise serious constitutional questions" by imposing employment requirements on the administration and potentially establishing racial or gender quotas in hiring practices.
Democrats defended the bill, saying some provisions had to be removed or altered because of jurisdictional disputes with other lawmakers and committees. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., navigated the turf issues to get the bill to the floor. She said issues were raised by both Republicans and Democrats.
She added that Democrats intend to address the dropped provisions through other legislation. "This is an open process," she said, adding that the bill "will help improve the policymaking at the Department of Homeland Security, will promote long-term planning and will improve management."
She added that the changes will ensure that the department "can perform its important functions of protecting the American people. ... This is the first time in two years such a bill has come to the floor. It is also the earliest a DHS authorization bill has come to the floor and the first time it has occurred before [appropriators] mark up the [annual DHS] appropriations bill."
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Television
Cable Plan Raises Speech Issues, Key Official Says
by David Hatch
LAS VEGAS -- Highlighting the challenges of the digital television transition, a Commerce Department official said Tuesday that an FCC initiative governing cable carriage of digital broadcast signals may raise thorny First Amendment issues.
John Kneuer, the chief of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said at a panel discussion of The Cable Show here that the proposed rules, which are strongly opposed by the cable industry, might interfere with the transition if introduced "at this juncture." The transition deadline is Feb. 17, 2009.
The FCC unanimously adopted the tentative rules April 25. Spearheaded by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a Republican, the proposal could result in cable systems being forced to carry up to three versions of broadcast signals to accommodate customers. The agency is now seeking public comment before adopting any final regulations.
Under that "triple carriage" approach, a single TV outlet might be offered in a down-converted format for viewing on analog sets, in standard definition for display on low-resolution SDTV sets, and in high definition for viewing on pricier HD sets. The cable industry said it will ensure access to digital broadcast signals but considers government mandates unnecessary and unconstitutional.
Following his appearance on a panel, Kneuer insisted that he was merely making an "observation," was not raising concerns, and did not intend to suggest a link to the transition. Nevertheless, he told reporters that the FCC should "be thoughtful about this in terms of the constitutional issues," which he described as contentious.
"Any examination of must-carry has always brought with it arguments and concerns over various constitutional issues," Kneuer said. "Entering into a heavy First Amendment debate in an area where more certainty, rather than less, would be good, is something I would think about if I were in their position."
He said industry stakeholders require as much "certainty" about regulations as possible "from now through the transition."
Interviewed here late Monday, Martin said the proposed cable-carriage regulations would minimize the transition's impact. "Fifty percent of cable homes today are still analog cable homes," he said. "Without us clarifying what the rules would be, it's not clear that all of those homes would still have access to the broadcast signals after that digital transition."
During another session here, top staffers to Democratic FCC members Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps sounded more alarm bells about the changeover. "We have just one chance at this. This is not a drill," said Rick Chessen, a senior adviser to Copps, who wants the transition to be treated as a "national priority."
Chessen noted that many broadcasters have tasks to accomplish by 2009, such as constructing new transmission towers and filing FCC paperwork. Adelstein fears a "tsunami of complaints" if the public is not adequately educated, adviser Rudy Brioche said.
Meanwhile, FTC member Jon Leibowitz, a Democrat, said his agency would monitor retailers to ensure that they are disseminating accurate and thorough information about DTV equipment options. The agency plans to target stores selling analog sets without government-required labels warning of their obsolescence.
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Education
Science, Tech Advocates Call For Education Reform
by Aliya Sternstein
High-profile advocates of educational reform in science and technology continued their calls Wednesday for more rigorous instruction to maintain America's competitive edge.
George Mason University President Alan Merten, National Academy of Engineering President William Wulf, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., were among the speakers who participated in a discussion about the importance of top-notch mathematics and science education. The event was hosted by the Center for Excellence in Education, a nonprofit that funds summer programs to help talented youths pursue careers in science and technology.
The center cited claims that more than 90 percent of all scientists and engineers in the world will be living in Asia by 2010, if current trends continue. The group also noted that although U.S. fourth-graders score well in international competitions, they fall near the bottom or last by 12th grade in mathematics and science.
"Why help the academically achieving student?" said Joann DiGennaro, the center's president. These children are not included in any government funding program, "but they need mentors. They need assistance."
Davis said of the center's work, "Your investment is well spent" because today's bright students will be the key to the future.
Merten noted that the cost of producing a scientist is significantly higher than producing other professionals. "We have to be more aware that engineering and science is hard," he said. Merten stressed the need to foster "an early excitement in the sciences."
Wulf, a computer science professor at the University of Virginia, announced that he will be starting an engineering class for liberal arts majors. "No equations. It's the concepts behind the equations that matter. My objective is not to make these liberal arts majors into engineers."
His goal is to reach beyond the technical population to the rest of the country and endow them with enough understanding to support tech-friendly policy and funding.
But Norman Matloff, a computer science professor at the University of California at Davis, who was not at the event but has been an outspoken skeptic of claims about a shortage of skilled U.S. tech workers, said Wednesday: "Those international test comparisons are highly misleading. The reason American kids look only mediocre in international comparisons of math and science scores, relative to some kids in Asia, is that the U.S. must deal with a large and sadly neglected underclass."
He added that the test scores in states like Utah, Iowa and Nebraska, which don't yet have large underclass populations, are similar to those of the top Asian countries.
Matloff is a leading critic of industry efforts to increase visas for skilled foreigners to deal with the claimed shortage of skilled U.S. workers.
"The education issue is a red herring deliberately used by the lobbyists from industry, education and [immigration lawyers] because we're not using the scientists and engineers that we have," Matloff said. The same firms that are lobbying "are laying off tons of engineers who were indeed science and math whizzes when they were kids."
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Labor
Study Claims U.S. Companies Outsource For Profits
by Heather Greenfield
For years, U.S. companies have told Congress they must move engineering jobs to other countries because there are not enough engineers here. But a newly released study, headed by a former technology executive, says profits, not the number of engineers, are driving the trend.
Vivek Wadhwa, a Duke University executive in residence, said he did the study because of misinformation about China graduating 12 times as many engineers as the United States. The study, featured in the latest issue of the National Academy of Sciences magazine, said companies outsource engineering jobs because it is cheaper.
"How can you fault companies for acting in their own self-interest?" said Wadhwa, the founder and former CEO of the enterprise software firm Relativity Technologies. He was among the first tech executives to outsource jobs to Russia 20 years ago. "I was one of the guys going around screaming, 'We need more H-1Bs'" for high-skilled immigrant workers, he said.
Now he says, "Forget H-1Bs and fix the green-card system," reasoning that people with temporary visas don't start companies.
The report emphasizes the contributions of foreign-born tech workers. Based on interviews with 2,054 tech companies founded from 1995 to 2005, 25 percent had one foreign-born founder, and among semiconductor companies, it was 35 percent.
Instead of more engineers and H-1B visas, though, Wadhwa said the answer to maintaining U.S. competitiveness globally is finding incentives for companies to keep research and development here. He said losing production jobs is much different than losing innovation jobs.
"When I took my technology CEO hat off and [put my] Duke researcher hat on, I started to worry," Wadhwa said. "We're about to lose major new industries. The next Internet is likely to be developed abroad."
The report analyzed salary and employment data, and found no shortage of engineers in the United States after comparing engineering graduation data in the United States, China and India.
Another part surveyed 58 companies who hire engineers in China and India and found most companies trusted hiring engineers from any university in India but only from 10-15 of China's universities. The demand for engineers from the top Chinese universities is so high that employers complained it is hard to actually get them.
Tech executives listed the reasons for outsourcing jobs as personnel savings, access to new markets and proximity to markets. When hiring engineers, 75 percent of those surveyed said India had an adequate supply, 59 percent said the United States did, and 54 percent said China did.
"I'm not trying to say there is nothing to worry about, but we're worrying about the wrong things," Wadhwa said. "It's not the education level of our workers that's driving jobs overseas."
He said he is worried "lawmakers will pass the SKIL bill and think they're done" instead of looking at ways to fix the green-card system and encourage businesses to keep R&D jobs in the United States. The bill, S. 1083, would make it easier to import and retain skilled foreign workers and foreigners who have received post-graduate degrees from U.S. schools.
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Correction
A story in Tuesday's PM Edition incorrectly stated that Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., attended a press briefing on a project to make the work of Congress more transparent. Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., was the one who attended.
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Today's Feature:
International Roundup
The European Commission announced Tuesday that the European Council of Ministers is making progress toward connecting electronic customs systems across Europe.
Every Wednesday, read the International Roundup by Winter Casey.
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E-briefs
Broadband: The U.S. government needs better data on high-speed Internet technology, FCC member Jonathan Adelstein said Wednesday at a House Small Business subcommittee hearing. "We need much more reliable, more specific data than the FCC currently compiles so that we can better ascertain our current problems and develop responsive solutions," Adelstein said. "Giving consumers reliable information by requiring public reporting of actual broadband speeds by providers would spur better service and enable the free market to function more effectively." Adelstein's testimony focused on ensuring the deployment of affordable broadband across the country. He said one of the best options, particularly in rural areas, "is in maximizing the potential of spectrum-based services." Adelstein said he also has urged "licensing approaches that make it easier for community-based providers to get access to wireless broadband opportunities." He added that another option is allowing unlicensed operations in unused spectrum known as white spaces.
Broadband: Proponents of fiber-to-the-home Internet access on Wednesday applauded the introduction of a resolution calling for a national high-speed Internet policy. The Fiber-to-the-Home-Council said the resolution, which also would set goals for universally available Internet transmission speeds, is a positive step in improving U.S. broadband access. Council President Joe Savage said the resolution would put the country "on the right track toward policies that will help" in promoting the advancement of better broadband services. "We already have the know-how and the commercial infrastructure to build and deploy the fiber-driven networks that can deliver these very high-bandwidth services," Savage said in a release. "All we need is to ensure that government policies encourage, and do not hinder, the progress that is so critical to our nation's economic and technological supremacy."
Intellectual Property: California Democrat Howard Berman, who chairs the House Judiciary Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee, held a closed-door meeting about patent law Wednesday with pertinent players. The meeting followed a hearing he held on the topic several weeks ago. Officials from the Coalition for Patent Fairness, Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, Financial Services Roundtable, Innovation Alliance and others were invited to attend the briefing, sources told Technology Daily. Later this month, Berman plans to move the patent legislation he co-sponsored with former subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, a spokeswoman said. She said the no-press event on Wednesday was intended to be a question-and-answer session, where stakeholders could express concerns or raise questions about the bill. A Senate companion measure was introduced by Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, who chairs that chamber's Judiciary Committee.
Intellectual Property: Beginning next week, Patent and Trademark Office Solicitor John Whealan will be sent to temporarily staff the Senate Judiciary Committee as the panel moves forward with legislation to modify the patent system. A committee spokeswoman confirmed Whealan's move but did not say how long he would be working on Capitol Hill. Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced a bill, S. 1145, several weeks ago, and a companion measure, H.R. 1908, was introduced in the House. Whealan has been PTO's solicitor since January 2001 and represents the agency in all federal intellectual property litigation. According to the PTO's Web site, the former International Trade Commission staff attorney has argued numerous cases before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and recently has increased his staff's dealings with the Justice Department in filing friend-of-the-court briefs at the Supreme Court and regional circuit courts.
Security: A key House Republican Wednesday called for a hearing to investigate shortfalls in the ability of the Homeland Security and Justice departments to coordinate and manage effective information sharing networks. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Tom Davis, R-Va., noted that the Government Accountability Office recently found that efforts to share critical information at the federal, state and local level may be at risk because the departments have not effectively coordinated and inventoried their IT networks. Davis asked House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to promptly schedule a hearing to review the GAO's findings. "With less than a month remaining before the start of hurricane season on June 1 and given the ongoing threats from terrorist acts, clearly time is of the essence," Davis wrote in a letter to Waxman. "As you know, information sharing and situational awareness are predicates to an effective disaster response."
Lobbying: The Center for Democracy and Technology on Wednesday urged the Homeland Security Department to revise draft regulations it issued earlier this year for the implementation of a federal identification security law. An open comment period on the proposed rules for the so-called REAL ID Act, which mandates nationwide standards for driver's licenses, ended Tuesday. CDT and others have complained that the implementation guidelines fail to consider the impact on Americans' privacy. The Smart Card Alliance, a coalition of identity technology vendors, also submitted comments disagreeing with the minimum standards that Homeland Security has proposed for REAL ID-compliant licenses. The alliance urged the department to consider "smart card" technologies like those produced by its companies in the final regulations.
Lobbying: Twelve rural telephone carriers have formed a coalition to counteract claims by AT&T and other major carriers that small players are engaged in so-called "traffic pumping." The term refers to allegations that rural exchanges are using supposedly free teleconferencing services to artificially increase phone traffic in a ploy to boost the inter-carrier compensation fees they receive from long-distance carriers. The Coalition for Carrier Neutrality is seeking to counter those claims. "We are uniting to debunk the myths that the [long-distance providers] have been spreading as a smokescreen to deflect attention from their illegal call-blocking and nonpayment of access fees to members of this coalition," Jonathan Canis, an attorney representing the coalition, said in a statement. "We urge the FCC to launch an investigation and impose fines for this outrageous behavior." The coalition noted that the FCC has rejected three AT&T complaints involving the issue.
Intellectual Property: The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals heard a pair of patent-infringement cases Wednesday. One was an appeal by All Computers challenging a Virginia federal court's favorable ruling for the computer chip manufacturer Intel in a dispute over microprocessor technology. The patent in question relates to the creation of "an accelerator board for use in replacing the microprocessor of a slow-speed system board with a microprocessor operating at a higher clock speed." The other case, AllVoice Computing v. Nuance Communications, involves a feud over speech-recognition technology. Judges Arthur Gajarsa, Pauline Newman and Randall Rader heard both cases. A third scheduled case, Verve v. Hypercom, which dealt with electronic payment systems, was taken off the calendar late Tuesday.
Courts: A former federal employee on Friday was denied an appeal against his former boss, whom he claims was influenced in her decision to fire him by information found while "Google-searching" his name. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals found that the agency had presented sufficient evidence to terminate David Mullins, who was a facilities engineering technician at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's weather forecast office in Indianapolis. Mullins argued that "his guaranteed right to fundamental fairness was seriously violated" when his employer searched his name on Google and found "my alleged prior removal from federal service by the Air Force." The court found that the discovery of the information by his supervisor, Valeria Capell, did not influence her decision to terminate Mullins. The agency showed evidence that Mullins had misused government vehicles, official time and a government credit card, and also had falsified official travel documents.
Porn: Sen. Richard Shelby told the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's annual congressional breakfast on Wednesday that lawmakers and industry must continue seeking ways to block resources that fuel Internet-based child pornography. Last year's formation of the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography was a step in the right direction but more needs to be done, said Shelby, an Alabama Republican and former Senate Banking Committee chairman. Members of the group include America Online, Bank of America, Citigroup, Google, Visa, Yahoo and others. Stemming the tide of illicit Web material hinges on financing, Shelby said. Halting cash flow would cripple what he called "the dirtiest business I can think of." But progress has been made, according to center President Ernie Allen. Credit-card transactions have "virtually disappeared" as a means of purchasing child porn, he said. During the breakfast, several law enforcers were given awards for using technology to apprehend criminals.
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