FCC broadband plan coordinator Blair Levin called the lack of broadband connectivity in Indian country a “tragedy” and said the FCC is well aware of the problem as it works on the National Broadband Plan. Levin said little has changed since his previous tenure at the FCC, as chief of staff in the early 1990s, when he was chief of staff. “One would hope that there would have been some progress, but there actually has been very little.” Levin spoke Thursday at a New America Foundation event marking the release of a long-awaited report by the foundation and Native Public Media on new media and Internet use in Indian country.
Despite virtually unchanged laws, judges are making it easier for plaintiffs to prevail in libel and privacy-related lawsuits due to the Internet’s involvement, lawyers and a federal appeals judge said during a Practising Law Institute discussion Friday. Allegedly defamatory or intrusive writings and other forms of media, previously buried in print newspapers and other formats difficult for a mass audience to view over time, have a “scope and permanency” online that’s panicking judges, said Kelli Sager, chair of the media practice at Davis Wright. Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Sack said his peers on the bench generally were operating under old notions of privacy that don’t match public sentiment. “We're going to be in this weird land for a while where law doesn’t match expectation,” lawyer Lee Levine said.
The market for viewing Internet content on TVs could get a boost in the coming weeks when open-source software supplier Boxee partners with an unnamed CE supplier on a set- top box and Roku expands the assortment of content available through the Roku Channel Store. The pact Boxee expects to announce Dec. 7 will be “the first of many” the company will land in 2010, as it seeks to expand use of its open-source video platform beyond PCs, Chief Creative Officer Zach Klein told us at the BMO Capital Markets Digital Entertainment Conference.
The market for viewing Internet content on TVs could get a boost in the coming weeks when open-source software supplier Boxee partners with an unnamed CE supplier on a set- top box and Roku expands the assortment of content available through the Roku Channel Store. The pact Boxee expects to announce Dec. 7 will be “the first of many” the company will land in 2010, as it seeks to expand use of its open-source video platform beyond PCs, Chief Creative Officer Zach Klein told us at the BMO Capital Markets Digital Entertainment Conference.
NTIA and RUS sought comment Tuesday on how to change their broadband stimulus programs to deal with complaints by applicants and members of Congress. The agencies also said the two planned funding rounds remaining will be combined. The actions had been widely expected, but some observers said they were surprised by how comprehensively the agencies are taking up concerns and complaints.
Native Public Media and the National Congress of American Indians want the FCC to set up a native nations/FCC broadband task force, they said in comments to the commission on a notice seeking comment on high-speed access on tribal lands. They also asked the FCC to create a special tribal office, to reserve seats on the Federal State Board on Universal Service for tribal members and to create an Enhanced Tribal Lands Broadband Fund Program under the Universal Service Fund. Tribes should have priority access to spectrum and the FCC should remove barriers that would keep Native Americans from using the TV white spaces for broadband, they said.
Native Public Media and the National Congress of American Indians want the FCC to set up a native nations/FCC broadband task force, they said in comments to the commission on a notice seeking comment on high-speed access on tribal lands. They also asked the FCC to create a special tribal office, to reserve seats on the Federal State Board on Universal Service for tribal members and to create an Enhanced Tribal Lands Broadband Fund Program under the Universal Service Fund. Tribes should have priority access to spectrum and the FCC should remove barriers that would keep Native Americans from using the TV white spaces for broadband, they said.
"Daily Update on Capitol Hill Trade Actions" is a regular feature of International Trade Today. The following are brief summaries of recent Capitol Hill actions.
Inmarsat posted a $50.2 million profit in Q3, up 33.5 percent from a year earlier. Revenue grew 8.7 percent to $176.7 million, the company said on Monday. Inmarsat’s maritime business grew 9.2 percent to $89.1 million, largely from growth in data services. The land-mobile division accounted for $38.8 million in revenue, up 4 percent.
SouthernLINC Wireless asked the FCC to carve out spectrum that the company uses to offer CMRS service in a four-state region if the commission moves forward on a petition by the Enterprise Wireless Alliance for rule changes to allow the assignment of new, full-power interstitial channels between currently authorized channel assignments in the 854-861/809-815 MHz bands. But other commenters endorsed the changes proposed.