Digital Future of Public Media: Publications, Events and More

...and Communications for All?

Cecille Isidro — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:00:00 -0500

A New America Event
01/26/2009 - 10:00am

Fiber to the Home: Ideal Economic Stimulus? | CircleID

Communications — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:52:00 -0500

I stumbled across a really interesting paper this week, written by Derek Slater and Tim Wu, and it set me to thinking. Slater is a policy analyst for Google ...

Groups Urge Obama to Adopt National Broadband Strategy | CongressDaily/Nextgov

Communications — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:31:00 -0500

Underscoring the adage that politics makes strange bedfellows, AT&T, Cisco, Free Press, Google, New America Foundation, National Cable and ...

Telecoms, Other Groups Draw Up National Broadband Strategy | CNET News

Communications — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:30:00 -0500

The group, which includes Cisco, Verizon, Google, the New America Foundation, Public Knowledge, the American Library Association, and others, ...

Obama Urged to Implement Broadband Plan | CBC.ca

Communications — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:35:00 -0500

The BB4US coalition, which has 55 members including consumer groups Free Press and the New America Foundation, technology companies such as Google Inc. and ...

FCC to Mull Free Internet Plan at Dec. Meeting | Reuters

Communications — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:35:00 -0500

"I don't know of any other major players" that would bid with such an approach, said Sascha Meinrath, research director at the New America Foundation. ...

High Tech Celebrates White-Spaces Victory | EDN.com

Communications — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:15:00 -0500

... the FCC approve the use of white spaces, according to Michael Calabrese, VP and director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation. ...

Could Consumers Own Their Internet Connections? | CBC.ca

Communications — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:48:00 -0500

Tim Wu, the Columbia Law School professor and Toronto native who first coined the term, has a simple suggestion: customer ownership of internet connections. ...

Homes with Tails: New America Foundation Releases a New Working Paper on Customer Owned Fiber Connections

Communications — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:38:00 -0500

America's communications infrastructure is stuck at a copper wall. For the vast majority of homes, copper wires remain the principal means of getting broadband services. The deployment of fiber optic connections to the home would enable exponentially faster connections, and few dispute that upgrading to more robust infrastructure is essential to America's economic growth. However, the costs of such an upgrade are daunting for private sector firms and even for governments. These facts add up to a public policy challenge.

Last week the New America Foundation's Wireless Future Program released a new working paper proposing a novel idea to solve this problem: consumer-owned fiber connections.

In Homes with Tails: What if you Could Own your Internet Connection?, New America fellow, Tim Wu and Google Policy Analyst, Derek Slater, proposed a model that encourages consumers to purchase and own the "last-mile" connection that runs into their home. By purchasing their own fiber optic connections, consumers would be able to connect to a variety of service providers. This model holds the potential for higher broadband speeds, greater competition, and lower Internet service prices.

New America also hosted a companion event where the authors discussed their proposal. Additional speakers included Wireless Future's Research Director, Sascha Meinrath; the President and Founder of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Robert Atkinson; and Link Hoewing, Assistant Vice President for Internet and Technology Issues at Verizon.

You can download a copy of the paper at:http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/homes_tails

You can watch the authors' presentation at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqRBzjhnLc8&eurl=http://www.newamerica.net/events/2008/homes_tails#t=6m45s

And visit the event page at: http://www.newamerica.net/events/2008/homes_tails

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New America's Wireless Future Program develops and advocates policy proposals aimed at achieving universal and affordable wireless broadband access, expanding public access to the airwaves and updating our nation's communications infrastructure in the digital era. For more information, visit http://www.newamerica.net/programs/wireless_future.

The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States. Headquartered in Washington D.C., New America also has offices in California.

OneWeb Day 2008

Communications — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:30:00 -0400

A New America Event
09/22/2008 - 10:30am

On the third annual "Earth Day for the Internet", communities across the country are holding events to learn about and advocate for that marvel of modern infrastructure, the Internet. In the nation's capital, advocates, experts and government representatives will honor OneWebDay, September 22, with a tribute to the Internet's role in politics and the politics of the Internet.

Organizers in DC are embracing OneWebDay 2008's theme of participation in democracy. They launched an e-Democracy time capsule on August 22, 2008 and… more

New America's Wireless Future Program Event with Larry Page in BusinessWeek | "Google's White-Space Fixation"

Communications — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:22:00 -0400

Google co-founder Larry Page made a rare trip to Washington this week. No, he wasn't lobbying for net neutrality or being grilled about Internet censorship in China. It was all about the white spaces -- and Google's growing fixation with wireless communications.

With opposition mounting, Page came to bolster Google's push to gain public access to these white spaces, slivers of wireless spectrum between the broadcast channels used by TV stations. . .

During his May 22 speech to the New America Foundation, a think tank where Google CEO Eric Schmidt is chairman-elect, Page used a wireless microphone to downplay interference concerns. "I don't think there's any technical credence to this at all," he said.

Page also argued that unlicensed white spaces offer a way for the U.S. to catch up with the rest of the world in broadband access. For the second year running, the U.S. ranked 15th among the 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development in terms of broadband availability, a recent survey found [BusinessWeek.com, 5/22/08]. Today, 10% of Americans still don't have access to DSL or cable broadband, according to consultancy Parks Associates.

Google and others also see white spaces as a way… more

Sascha Meinrath in New York Times | 'Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out'

Communications — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:27:00 -0400

Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out (New York Times)

. . . “The entire for-profit model is the reason for the collapse in all these projects,” said Sascha Meinrath, technology analyst at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit research organization in Washington.

Mr. Meinrath said that advocates wanted to see American cities catch up with places like Athens, Leipzig and Vienna, where free or inexpensive Wi-Fi already exists in many areas.

He said that true municipal networks, the ones that are owned and operated by municipalities, were far more sustainable because they could take into account benefits that help cities beyond private profit, including property-value increases, education benefits and quality-of-life improvements that come with offering residents free wireless access.

Mr. Meinrath pointed to St. Cloud, Fla., which spent $3 million two years ago to build a free wireless network that is used by more than 70 percent of the households in the city. . .

Michael Calabrese in San Jose Mercury News | Auction Takes 'First Step' to Open-Access Wireless

Communications — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:01:00 -0400

San Jose Mercury News | Auction Takes 'First Step' to Open-Access Wireless

. . . Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, said Verizon's ability to subsidize certain handsets gives it enormous market power in determining which devices and applications will ultimately become popular with consumers.

But Calabrese said the auction did help achieve the goals of increased openness and innovation. "We need to extend these consumer protections, but this was an important first step," he said. . .

Michael Calabrese in NC Business Journal | Azulstar Backs Out of WinstonNet Wireless Initiative

Communications — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:33:00 -0500

NC Business Journal | Azulstar Backs Out of WinstonNet Wireless Initiative

. . . Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C. said the lure of non-taxpayer financing has proven strong, but not realistic.

Municipal wireless "is very viable, but what's come into question is this corporate franchise model that is premised on a free lunch for taxpayers," Calabrese said. "Where cities have embraced municipal wireless as a public service or a means to achieve greater efficiencies, it's working fine."

Calabrese pointed to St. Cloud, Fla. as an example, where he said the city paid to install a network and hired a private company to operate it, calculating that money saved from efficiencies like automated meter reading and streamlined building permit applications would make the money back over time. About 70 percent of the adult population of St. Cloud uses that network, Calabrese said. . .

Sascha Meinrath in the New York Times politics blog | "Wanted: A More Digital Congress"

Communications — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:12:00 -0500

Wanted: A More Digital Congress (New York Times)

. . . Another way to share content online with voters, said Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation, is including access to a program like Google Documents, which allows multiple users to edit the same document. The idea is that if congressmen put a preliminary draft of a bill in an open source program on their sites, then specialists out in their home districts could amend the language or add information that hadn’t been addressed for the legislator to consider.

“We should be tapping into that expertise,” Mr. Meinrath said. “Peer production is a massive untapped resource.” . . .

Michael Calabrese in RCR Wireless | State's Role in Consumer Protection Bill Pondered

Communications — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 11:11:00 -0500

RCR Wireless News | State's Role in Consumer Protection Bill Pondered

. . . "Allowing consumers to purchase unsubsidized handsets without a long-term wireless service plan, and at a fee no higher than subsidized wireless plans, would begin to knock down those obstacles and promote increased consumer freedom in the wireless market," said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation. . .

Michael Calabrese in Telecommunications Reports | 'Positives, Negatives in Band Auction'

Communications — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:00:00 -0500

Open Access Advocates See Positives, Negatives in FCC's 700 MHz Band Auction (Telecommunications Reports)

Michael Calabrese, vice president of the New America Foundation and director of its Wireless Future Program, concluded that the sale has produced “mixed results with respect to the public interest.” He noted the open access provisions on the 22-MHz C block have been triggered, but said the winner of the spectrum will “most likely” be Verizon Wireless. And he noted the D block reserve price hasn’t nearly been met. ...

Verizon Wireless’s announcement “sounds good, but really the question still remains ... will it lead to real openness and will market forces alone lead the other carriers ... toward the sort of consumer choice and open network innovation that we need?” Mr. Calabrese asked. “We’re very skeptical of that.”...

Mr. Calabrese said the FCC, as it mulls new rules for the D block, should consider requiring the bidder to be a wholesale-only provider, which would lead to additional competition in the market. Public interest groups and others had unsuccessfully sought such a mandate on the C- and D-block spectrum.

Sascha Meinrath on NPR | 'Philly Fears Earthlink May Bail on WiFi Network'

Communications — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:39:00 -0500

Philly Fears Earthlink May Bail on WiFi Network (NPR)

Philadelphia's wireless Internet network was supposed to be a model for the nation, but the project has been plagued by delays and spotty service. Now EarthLink, the company building it, is getting out of the municipal wireless business in other cities. That may leave Philadelphia disconnected.

...NPR reports on Philadelphia wireless and interviews Sascha Meinrath of the New America Foundation Wireless Future Program. Listen to the segment here.

Michael Calabrese in InfoWorld | "$4.7 billion bid in 17th round of the 700MHz auctions"

Communications — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:12:00 -0500

$4.7 billion in the 17th round of the 700MHz auctions (InfoWorld)

The FCC may have to re-auction the spectrum without the reserve price and perhaps without public safety obligations, said Michael Calabrese, director of the Spectrum Policy Program at think tank the New America Foundation.

Michael Calabrese in RCR Wireless News | 'Auction rings up $2.4B in first-round bids'

Communications — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:38:00 -0500

700 MHz auction rings up $2.4B in first-round bids (RCRNews.com)

“An unfortunate combination of tight credit markets and bad policy choices is likely to result in the biggest incumbent wireless carriers acquiring the lion’s share of licenses in today’s big auction of TV band airwaves,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program and VP at the New America Foundation. “The FCC imposed multi-billion reserve [minimum] prices on the spectrum, which will shut out all but the biggest companies, resulting in no new competition.”

Calabrese added: “The auction’s major wild card is Google. Even if Google is outbid in the end, they could transform the wireless marketplace by bidding at least $4.6 billion, the reserve price that triggers open access and consumer choice conditions that the FCC has imposed on the winner of the largest, nationwide block of spectrum [the C Block]. Google's bidding behavior will determine if this auction opens wireless networks so that consumers have a choice of devices, software and content in the future.”