news and knowledge from around the globe compiled by Global EDD Group
A media and Internet advocacy group is suing the federal government over its new rules covering Internet traffic, saying they don’t protect wireless traffic from interference by phone companies.
The group Free Press filed its challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s so-called “net neutrality” rules in federal court in Boston on Wednesday.
The rules were adopted in December and are set to take effect in two months.
A media and Internet advocacy group is suing the federal government over its new rules covering Internet traffic, saying they don’t protect wireless traffic from interference by phone companies.
The group Free Press filed its challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s so-called “net neutrality” rules in federal court in Boston on Wednesday.
The rules were adopted in December and are set to take effect in two months.
Steven VanRoekel, a former Microsoft executive, will become the next chief information officer for the federal government — a bigger, more policy-oriented technology job than any he held at the software giant.
Steven VanRoekel, a former Microsoft executive, was managing director of the F.C.C.
Mr. VanRoekel, 41, who joined the Obama administration from Microsoft in 2009 as managing director of the Federal Communications Commission, will succeed Vivek Kundra, the White House plans to announce on Thursday.
The federal government spends about $80 billion a year on information technology, more than any corporation. But the government, analysts agree, has not achieved the kind of productivity gains from its technology investment that is evident in the private sector.
The long-term trend of productivity growth in the private sector, said Jeffrey D. Zients, a deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, has been about 1.5 percent a year. Yet productivity growth in the federal government, he noted, has been less than a third that level.
AT&T’s proposed acquisition of rival mobile carrier T-Mobile USA would give customers fewer choices and drive up prices, some U.S. lawmakers said Thursday.
Several members of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s competition subcommittee questioned during a hearing whether the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission should allow the US$39 billion deal to happen. “I see absolutely no redeeming reason for this merger to go through,” said Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the full committee.
The merger could cost many jobs at the two companies and could lead to higher prices for mobile plans, Conyers said. “Normally, at antitrust hearings, we get the promises that there won’t be losses of jobs and they won’t raise the rates,” he said. “The thing I like about these witnesses is, they don’t even promise that. I thank you for your evasiveness on this issue.”
Conyers was talking to Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO of AT&T, and Rene Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent company. Stephenson and Obermann both told the subcommittee the acquisition would allow AT&T to roll out mobile broadband service faster across the country.
The merger would help AT&T deal with growing spectrum crunch, Stephenson said. The acquisition of T-Mobile’s cell towers would equal eight years of tower-building activities in San Francisco and Los Angeles, he said.
via Lawmakers Question AT&T Acquisition of T-Mobile | PCWorld Business Center.
The Federal Communications Commission is expanding its familiar emergency alert system notifications sent over TV and radio to now include mobile phones.
Dubbing the new service PLAN (Personal Localized Alerting Network), the government would target the alerts in the form of text messages sent to cell phones of people who need or want to be notified in the event of an emergency. Developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), PLAN would allow customers of any participating wireless carrier to turn their phones into personal alert systems.
The service will initially launch in New York City by the end of this year but is expected to roll out nationwide in 2012 through support from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. To receive the alerts, a mobile phone must be outfitted with a certain hardware chip, typically found in higher-end phones like the newer iPhone, according to The New York Times. A software upgrade is also required.
The alerts will be targeted geographically, so that people will receive notifications of emergencies based on where they live. FEMA promises that the alerts will get through even if the cell towers are jammed with traffic. The alerts will be free of charge and won’t require any special sign-up. Users whose phones already come with the new PLAN technology will automatically receive the alerts, though they can opt out at any time.
To pass along the alerts, government officials would send notices concerning public emergencies, such as tornadoes or terrorist threats, according to FEMA. Officials at PLAN would then confirm the alerts and relay them to the wireless carriers, who would then send them out as text messages to residents in the affected areas. Once the system is operational, cell phone users would receive three types of alerts, according to the FCC: 1) alerts issued by the president; 2) alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life; and 3) Amber Alerts.
via FCC to launch disaster alert system for cell phones | Digital Media – CNET News.
AT&T Inc. (T)’s proposed purchase of T- Mobile USA Inc. faces a coordinated review by antitrust and communications agencies, a U.S. official said today.
The official, an aide at the Federal Communications Commission, spoke on condition of anonymity because Dallas-based AT&T hasn’t yet submitted the purchase for agency approval.
AT&T on March 20 proposed buying Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE)’s T- Mobile in a $39 billion deal that would combine the second- and fourth-largest carriers to create a new market leader, ahead of Verizon Wireless.
The deal needs approval from the FCC and Justice Department, and is to face hearings in Congress. The FCC and Justice Department will work on parallel tracks, and coordinate with one another, said the official who declined to be named in a telephone conference call with reporters.
FCC guidelines call for the agency to decide mergers within 180 days of an application being deemed complete, and reviews can take longer. Another official on the call who also declined to be named said the agency isn’t limited to 180 days, and the deal would be decided as promptly as is reasonable.
AT&T intends to file its application at the FCC around April 21, Michael Balmoris, a Washington-based spokesman, said in an e-mail.
via AT&T-T-Mobile Deal Faces Coordinated Review, Official Says – Bloomberg.
In early 2011, the Federal Communications Commission will launch a new, updated website and become the first major federal agency to utilize cloud computing technology to completely support its principal web presence. By moving to cloud technology, the FCC hopes to give a boost to this increasingly popular technology and to improve the FCC’s technology platform. In announcing its move to cloud computing, the FCC’s Managing Director stated, “given that we oversee an industry that should lead this country in innovation, we want to lead the government in the things we do every day as well.” Terremark will manage the FCC’s transition to cloud computing.
The FCC’s move is also designed to motivate other federal agencies to embrace cloud computing. White House Technology Advisors have publicly endorsed and pushed for wider use of cloud computing technology to reduce costs and encourage utilization of current, more efficient and productive software and technology. The FCC’s wholesale move to cloud computing follows a decision by the U.S. General Services Administration to move its e-mail system to Google’s cloud-based applications. NASA is also exploring ways it can employ cloud computing technology.
via Federal Communications Commission to Move to the Cloud : E-Discovery Law Alert.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) confirmed on Wednesday that it is investigating whether Google broke any federal eavesdropping laws when collecting data for its controversial Street View mapping service.
The investigation stems from Google’s disclosure recently that its Street View cars collected passwords, e-mails and other personal information from unprotected residential wireless networks, the FCC said in a statement.
In light of Google’s disclosure, “we can now confirm that the Enforcement Bureau is looking into whether these actions violate the Communications Act,” Michele Ellison, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, said in the statement.
“As the agency charged with overseeing the public airwaves, we are committed to ensuring that the consumers affected by this breach of privacy receive a full and fair accounting,” the FCC statement said.
via FCC investigating Google over Street View – Computerworld.
Verizon Wireless said on Sunday that it would pay up to $90 million in refunds to 15 million cellphone customers who were wrongly charged for data sessions or Internet use, one of the largest customer refunds by a telecommunications company.
The announcement came in a statement from Verizon Wireless as the company held talks with the Federal Communications Commission about complaints of unauthorized charges and in response to questions about a possible settlement of an F.C.C. investigation into the issue.
Verizon said in its statement that the customers would receive credits from $2 to $6 on their October or November bills or, in the case of former customers, refund checks.
The refunds will be paid to customers who did not have data access plans but who were nevertheless assessed one or more charges of $1.99 because of data exchanges initiated by software built into their phones, or because of charges for inadvertently going online on the phones.
The F.C.C. is likely to press Verizon to pay a penalty for failing to notify customers of the problem, which has been occurring since at least 2007, according to people close to the talks.
via Verizon Wireless to Pay Refunds for Data Charges – NYTimes.com.
The Supreme Court is getting involved in an unusual freedom of information dispute over whether corporations may assert personal privacy interests to prevent the government from releasing documents about them.
The court on Tuesday agreed to a request from the Obama administration to take up a case involving claims made by telecommunications giant AT&T to keep secret the information gathered by the Federal Communications Commission during an investigation.
The administration wants the high court to rule that corporations may not claim a personal privacy exception contained in the federal Freedom of Information Act.
The exception may be used only by individuals, the administration said in a brief signed by Elena Kagan, the newest justice who served in the Justice Department until last month.
Kagan will not take part in the case, which will be argued early next year.
AT&T wants the FCC to keep secret all the information it gathered from the company during an investigation into its participation in the federal E-Rate program, which helps schools and libraries get Internet access.
via High court takes case on corporate privacy – BusinessWeek.
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