The State Legislature has taken up the controversial issue of government access to customer information that passes across mobile and Internet- based devices, and directed the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) to examine California law and recommend any needed reforms by passing Senate Concurrent Resolution 54, authored by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima).
Today, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) conditionally approved an additional $9.9 million of California Advanced Services Funds (CASF) to complete the 530-mile Digital 395 project in the Eastern Sierra region. Previously, the project received a CASF grant of $19.3 million with a federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant of $81 million from the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications Information Agency (NTIA).
Senate Bill (SB) 740 was voted out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee today and will be eligible to be considered on the full Assembly Floor next week, according to Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce staff. SB740 proposes to add $90 million to the existing California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and expand eligibility beyond telephone corporations and wireless companies. It requires a two-thirds vote to move forward.
The California Broadband Council met on August 12, 2013 in the State Capitol, to review progress on Digital 395, a major Broadband Middle Mile ARRA project, pending broadband legislation, an education tech project in Yolo County, and ICT training for the workforce. The Council also received progress reports from staff from three working groups on surplus state computers, state building collocation, and overcoming local barriers to broadband deployment and adoption.
Senate Bill 740 (Padilla, D -Pacoima), which proposes to add $90 million to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and expand eligibility beyond telephone companies and wireless licensees of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for broadband providers to serve Californians across the state, has cleared a major hurdle this week. On Monday, the Assembly Utilities and Commerce (U&C) Committee heard the bill on a motion of reconsideration, and passed it by a vote of 11-4 after the cable industry withdrew opposition to the measure.
According to Senator Padilla’s office and the Assembly Utilities and Commerce (U&C) Committee, the cable industry has reached a compromise agreement to allow Senate Bill 740 to be placed before the Assembly U&C committee for reconsideration this coming Monday August 12, 2013, at 3 p.m. in Room 437 of the State Capitol. Padilla’s office says the California Cable & Telecommunications Association (CCTA) has agreed to remove its opposition to the bill with these amendments, leaving no party on record with opposition. The bill failed to move out of the U&C Committee on a vote of 5-3-7 on a prior vote in early July.
The state Legislature is back this week, and what hangs in the balance is an important bill – Senate Bill 740 (Padilla) — that will significantly impact the future of broadband access in rural areas of the state and whether public housing will get new funding for broadband access.
It is a challenge for a government agency to attract users in the noisy social media world that most folks with smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs live in. With some creativity, government agencies can be heard amidst the noise. Here’s 8 tips on how to get your agency’s mission and projects noticed and draw in users to your sites:
The announcement that Starbucks had chosen Google and Level 3 to provide upgraded WiFi to more than 7,000 coffee houses was eyebrow-lifting. Just last month, Techwire covered Google’s big charitable announcement that it was gifting the City of San Francisco with a $600,000 donation for a WiFi system for 31 San Francisco Parks. Now, Google expands its initiatives in the broadband access area with this Starbucks deal, promising ten to one hundred times the current WiFi speeds at the upgraded Starbucks sites. (Don’t get too excited about the 100X speeds, because only the Starbucks with Google Fiber like Kansas City will get those speeds.)
At yesterday’s keynote for a virtual summit titled ‘Innovation for the Nation" directed towards state and local government employees, Google’s Milo Medin, VP of Access Services, told municipalities that they can attract a gigabit fiber service if they wanted it. He encouraged them to "own the problem" and pave the way by simplifying their municipal processes to attract fiber broadband providers.
Today, through a deal brokered by San Francisco Supervisor Mark Ferrell, Google announced that it will donate $600,000 to bring free wireless service to the public in 31 San Francisco parks, recreational centers and plazas. This free WiFi service in the City’s parks will enhance park users’ ability to obtain government benefits and services and other information available from the Internet from wireless devices like laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
At the July 10th MobileBeat conference in San Francisco, a panel of experts with IT organization experience reported on the changing demands of the mobile workforce. Key trends reported were that organizations were moving away from requiring corporate-owned smartphones and tablets that are heavily locked down and restricted for business usage. More companies were moving to a Corporate-Owned But Personally Enabled or Bring Your Own Device model.
Digital have-nots in very rural or remote locations in New Zealand, Africa, South America and Australia, take heart! Google has been experimenting with a technology that uses high altitude balloons carried by winds high above airplane traffic lanes to beam Internet access at 3G speeds to receivers on the ground.
Techwire.net‘s broadband reporter is on the scene in London. While the setting is not business-oriented, the scene is worth a quick report. The knights of the round table sought the Grail. I am on a quest for WiFi hotspots in London.
It was quite a scene to behold. Yesterday, under the soft natural lighting of the San Francisco City Hall North Light Court, fifty couples sat across from each other at small two-person tables, gazing intently into each other’s eyes for the two minutes they had allotted for their speed dating session. Given the narrow time frame, most had a prepared one minute spiel designed to impress their potential mate, and make them, well, unforgettable. Then, a bell would go off loudly, and the outer couples would move one seat to the right to meet their next potential partner.
Computer and software industry players are tangling with the state Board of Equalization (BOE) on the governor’s revised budget which proposes trailer bill language to clarify that software delivered on media (such as on disc, diskettes, tape, or cartridge) is tangible physical property and thus will be subject to sales tax provisions. CalTax and computer industry players such as Qualcomm have opposed this language, asking that this complex issue be taken up in a policy committee and not treated in the budget process. The Assembly Budget Subcommittee #4 on State Administration disagreed at a May 22 hearing and approved the trailer bill language 3-2, but today, the Senate Budget Subcommittee #4 held the item over for further consideration.
Delta Air has succeeded in having a California superior state court dismiss with prejudice on May 9th a lawsuit filed by the State Attorney General (AG) Kamala Harris, alleging that Delta filed to post a privacy policy that covers its mobile app.
A grueling process begins May 15-16 in Washington D.C. for the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) who kicks off a summer long series of consultations with states, tribal entities, territories and local authorities across the nation. After the D.C. workshop, FirstNet will conduct six regional workshops and will meet with each state individually during the consultation process.
Last week, SB 740 (Padilla) addressing broadband infrastructure expansion in California was heard at a hearing and was voted out, 10-0-1, of the Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee of the State Senate, to advance to the Committee on Appropriations.
Today in a live press conference, President Obama nominated Thomas Wheeler, 67, as the next Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), one of the most powerful positions for ICT policy in the world.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee last week signed into law the Citywide Coordination of Open Data Policy and Procedures legislation introduced jointly with Board of Supervisors President David Chiu. This new landmark Open Data law establishes the position and duties of a new Chief Data Officer to be appointed by the Mayor, and orders that departmental data coordinators assist in the implementation of the Open Data Policy. The ordinance also establishes rules and procedures for making open data available through the city’s open data web portal.
After an "extensive national search," Marc Touitou has been named the new San Francisco Chief Information Officer and Director of the Department of Technology by Mayor Ed Lee in an announcement on Thursday. Touitou replaces Jon Walton, San Francisco’s CIO who left in January to become San Mateo County’s CIO.
Earlier this week, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) reintroduced "The Broadband Adoption Act of 2013" (H.R. 1685) to propose reforms and modernization to the nation’s telecommunications federal Lifeline Program. Bill co-sponsors include Ranking Members Henry Waxman (D-CA), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Reps. Diana DeGette (CO), Zoe Lofgren (CA), Jan Schakowsky (IL), G.K. Butterfield, (NC) and Ben Ray Lujan (NM).
During the FirstNet board meeting held today in Washington D.C., the Boston Marathon bombing was raised and how this future public safety broadband network might have helped in this type of terrorist bombing situation.
At its board meeting today at the Department of Commerce in Washington D.C., Sam Ginn, Chairman of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) board, announced that Bill D’Agostino, Jr. has been hired as its general manager, effective April 22, 2013. The Board chose a seasoned telecommunications executive with deep expertise in wireless voice and broadband networks, including LTE technology.
By a vote of 288 to 127, the House of Representatives in Washington D.C. passed a controversial cybersecurity (H.R. 624) bill today that would allow for real-time, voluntary and bi-directional information sharing between private companies and the government in the event of a cyber attack.
Last night, Stanford Law School’s Journal of International Law and CALinnovates welcomed a prominent world telecom figure to Silicon Valley: Dr. Hamadoun Touré, the Secretary General of the International Telecom Union (ITU) to a two –day conference titled "The Virtual Battlefield: Securing Cyberspace in a World Without Borders" at Stanford Law School. The ITU chief was accompanied by Marco Obiso, Cybersecurity Coordinator of the Telecommunications Development Bureau of the ITU.
Today, at a San Francisco workshop on "The Future of Privacy + Innovation in California: A Workshop for App Developers," California Attorney General (AG) Kamala Harris offered praise to big platforms for mobile applications like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft and RIM, who participated in and agreed to a joint statement of principles on consumer privacy. At the same time, she warned companies with mobile sites like Delta Airlines, who failed to comply with California law requiring privacy notices in its applications despite receiving a warning letter with a 30-day cure period. In December 2012, the California Attorney General sued Delta Airlines for failing to include privacy notices in its mobile apps.
The formal announcement of the resignation in the coming weeks of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has fueled the rumor mill of who will replace him. At the same time, we wonder where does a former Chairman go for the next gig, given it is pretty hard to beat his last job as the top cop on the telecom beat.
The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, announced today that he will be stepping down from the agency in the coming weeks, confirming recent rumors of him leaving before his term is up.
