Lighting Up the Lines on the Administration’s Internet Plan

By: Julius H. Hollis is the CEO and Chairman of the Alliance for Digital Equality

Next month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is scheduled to present its National Broadband Plan to Congress and the stakes could not be higher. Broadband opens doors that allow for extraordinary opportunity — opportunity that should be available to all Americans at an affordable price.

As we anxiously await the details, our society prepares to undergo tremendous structural changes in how vital government services are delivered. These services are a lifeline, particularly for our underclass. America’s low-income communities cannot afford to be further disadvantaged as a result of a lack of the benefits that the digital future promises (education, entertainment, healthcare) due to the rising price of Broadband.

I share the FCC’s commitment to equal rights for Internet users, but I am genuinely concerned about the unintended consequences that well-intentioned net neutrality policies could have on America’s underclass. For many families, the brutal recession that we continue to battle has already pushed the dream of high-speed Internet access out of reach. Implementing new network neutrality regulations that may not allocate costs in a fair or equitable manner, particularly in these times of economic uncertainty, is of serious concern. (more…)

Hollywood Wants Control of Your HDTV

By Kevin Spidel, Patriot Strategies.

The race to get quality content directly to your HDTV has been building for a few years. TiVo now includes podcast aggregation ability, AppleTV includes the ability to watch movies, independent films are distributed via iTunes directly to your TV, and Boxee now aggregates and scrapes the social web for online video that your social network is watching and allows you to broadcast directly to your home theater.

Consumer electronic devices have gone from component HDTV connections to HDMI and optical inputs for quality HDTV viewing.

Hollywood would like to break your TV and revert your viewing experience back a few years. Never mind the evolution of media distribution created by an open market. The large corporate trade associates want to control distribution abilities directly by breaking your TV.

The MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America) has been trying to increase movie distribution while maintaining full control of their content. Throughout the years they have joined forces with the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) to take on media related websites, bit torrent technology, and various file sharing programs in an effort to crack down on illegal piracy.

Enter Selectable Output Control (aka The Cable Kill Swith).

“Selectable Output Control” (”SOC”) is the remote signaling of home devices by content providers or distributors, to turn off consumer home interfaces on a program-by-program basis. The interface in question would simply not operate for the particular program. It would mean that a consumer who has purchased an HDTV display, and pays for a set-top box or other device with an HDTV output, still might not receive all of the HDTV programs he or she has paid for — because the interface between the set-top box and the HDTV display has been turned off by remote control. In the long term, imposition of SOC could have the effect of driving from the market any home interface that supports home recording. HRRC has opposed imposition of SOC by law or in any context subject to regulation.

SOC is activated by data “triggers” that ride along with program information when it is sent to the home. FCC Encoding Rules currently ban SOC use, but the FCC has left the door open to its use in the future.  – Home Recording Rights Coalition

Here is a video about this technology: (more…)

Broadband Bridge to Social Media in Rural America

Larger pipes means more social media users. Many video conversation sites, flash based sites, AJAX driven applications require dedicated connections to the web. Many rural American’s are still unable to gain access to the broadband world.

For many, broadband may be as familiar a technology as cable television. Others may not be aware of the advantages high-speed Internet service offers. It can place adults in a virtual classroom and allow them to get a college or graduate degree — from their own homes. It gives physicians and hospitals instant access to medical records and enables remote diagnostic medicine, which can help enhance healthcare delivery in rural areas. It can allow a rancher in West Texas to sell every head of cattle in an online auction, expanding the reach of his business and raising his earning potential without the need to leave his ranch.  (Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, via TheHill.com – Bringing broadband to rural America.)

Such policies allow small business growth in rural America, but also increased use of social media solutions.