Technology Daily

House lawmakers in both parties are stepping up pressure on the FCC to permit technology companies such as Dell, Google, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft to harness vacant broadcast spectrum in order to expand wireless, high-speed Internet access.

In a Tuesday letter to the agency, Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Nathan Deal, R-Ga.; Jay Inslee; D-Wash., Mike Rogers, R-Mich.; and Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., urged the FCC to resolve any remaining technical issues and release final rules in a few months. All… more

...In a Sept. 10 letter, the National Association of Broadcasters endorsed FCC efforts to permit white spaces to be used for offering wireless broadband to stationary gadgets in rural areas. But it reiterated that mobile devices operating in the band would wreak havoc with DTV signals and make it impossible for affected parties to pinpoint the causes or locations of the interference. Following the briefing, broadcasters headed for the FCC and Capitol Hill to appeal directly to FCC Chairman Kevin… more

On a Friday with Congress out of session, the New America Foundation packed a Senate hearing room for a panel discussion on what seemed to be a specialized topic -- the next spectrum auction at the FCC. But the issue could affect how most consumers and companies communicate via high-speed Internet.

Panelists including representatives from Google, Public Knowledge, and the Media Access Project are calling for a fundamental change in the auction rules for how the FCC allocates… more

(Tuesday, February 27) The network neutrality debate that has focused for the past two years on maintaining an open Internet is expanding to a new battlefield: wireless mobile services. In a newly released paper, Columbia University Law School Professor Tim Wu sounded the alarm about the ability of consumers to use devices of their choosing on cellular networks now limited to proprietary equipment. Wu emphasized that the FCC's "Carterfone" rules, which let consumers connect various gadgets… more

In Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Bush proposed adding a science component to the five-year-old education law that currently focuses on mathematics and reading proficiency. The 2002 education law, known as the No Child Left Behind Act, requires educators to ensure that every student read and do math at grade level or above by 2014.The science measure is one of several enhancements that the president said he wants rolled into the reauthorization of the law. Bush… more

The United States and Mexico signed a spectrum-sharing agreement to support the operations of commercial entrepreneurs expected to deploy advanced wireless services along the U.S.-Mexican border, the State Department announced Friday.

Under the deal, senior telecommunications officials from both countries agreed to support emergency responders and other state and local public-safety organizations. The goal of the agreement, which was reached Nov. 8, is to facilitate reliable border communications that work across jurisdictions...

Some companies already have bought the rights to the… more

Canada's federal government has overruled a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decision to regulate Internet-based telephone service, a top Canadian official confirmed this week.

Ottawa's government "has decided to change the CRTC's decision on VoIP -- voice-over-Internet protocol phone service," Industry Minister Maxime Bernier said in a speech Wednesday at The Economic Club of Toronto. "More specifically, we are telling the CRTC to start deregulating 'access independent' VoIP services. These are the telephone services you get through a broadband Internet… more