Jacob Appelbaum, a core developer of the Tor Project, is the co-author, along with Julian Assange, of the 2012 book Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet. On December 27 2012 Jacob was the keynote speaker at the 29th Chaos Communication Congress (29C3) in Hamburg, Germany, themed “Not My Department”. He speaks about realities, rights, and responsibilities in a surveilled world. Video:
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF talk “Computers for Humans” in the Computers & Society Speaker Series, sponsored by ISOC-N,Y at the Courant Institute NYC on Nov 27 2012.
Users do not know how to program their computers, nor do they care. They spend much more time and energy trying to figure out how to use them to program one another, instead. And this is a potentially grave mistake. Just as the invention of text utterly transformed human society, disconnecting us from much of what we held sacred, our migration to the digital realm will also require a new template for
maintaining our humanity. In this talk, Dr. Douglas Rushkoff — author of Program or Be Programmed, Life Inc, and the upcoming Present Shock, shares the biases of digital media, and what that means for how we should use and make them.
Additional Camera: Brittany Vanbibber
IGF-USA Post-WCIT Roundtable Discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC on December 21 2012.
The Roundtable participants were from the IGF-USA Steering Group who attended the ITU World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai including Ambassador Phil Verveer, US State Department, and representatives of the civil society; business, and technical communities, and was open to the public – either in person or via phone bridge. This event focused on implications for Internet Governance (IG) and how to advance the effectiveness of the IGF and the IGF-USA in addressing key issues highlighted during the WCIT, but which are clearly in the IG space.
Topics:
Moderator: Marilyn Cade
Speakers:
Video link: http://youtu.be/l7McltVnIWU
Originally webcast live on the Internet Society Chapters Webcast Channel http://www.livestream.com/internetsocietychapters
IGF-USA Homepage: http://www.igf-usa.us/
The Internet Governance Forum: http://www.intgovforum.org/
More information on the WCIT: http://www.internetsociety.org/wcit
This video is available to subtitle on AMARA: http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/1jOyCBSlhmrZ/info/igf-usa-post-wcit-roundtable-dec-21-2012/
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that it has saved $210m on its Lifeline program, mainly through eliminating fraud. Out of that $14m has been allotted to broadband adoption pilots in 21 states and Puerto Rico. Details below.
Launch of 14 Broadband Adoption Pilots Across the Country
Using $14 million in savings from reforms, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has chosen 14 high-quality pilot projects to advance broadband adoption through Lifeline. The projects will provide critical data and rigorous analysis regarding how Lifeline can efficiently and effectively increase broadband adoption and retention among low-income consumers.
Located in 21 states and Puerto Rico, the pilots will also provide broadband for nearly 75,000 low-income consumers who now lack service.
Robust, affordable broadband has become essential to access jobs, education, and economic opportunity. Over 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies today – including Wal-Mart and Target – require online job applications. And students with broadband at home have a 7 percent higher graduation rate. But low- income households adopt broadband at much lower rates than the average household: Fewer than 36 percent of families with incomes less than $25,000 subscribe to broadband at home, compared to nearly 92 percent of families with incomes over $75,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In order to rigorously test how best to use Lifeline to support broadband adoption, the pilots will gather data and provide analysis on a wide a range of geographic, technological, and programmatic variables. Projects include five wireless broadband projects, seven wireline broadband projects, and two offering wireline or wireless technologies. Seven will test discounted service in rural areas, including two on Tribal lands, and seven will test discounted service in urban and suburban areas. Variables that will be experimentally tested include the use of digital literacy training, equipment types, subsidy levels, speed ranges, and usage limits.
The Pilot Program will run for 18 months, beginning on Feb. 1, 2013. Winners have three months to set up the pilots, and must provide one year of subsidized service. The pilots must complete data collection and analysis in the final three months. Following is a list of projects and the states in which they are located. A more detailed description of the projects is available in Appendix A of the Order, available at http://www.fcc.gov/document/14-projects-chosen-lifeline-broadband-pilot-program-competition.
1. Frontier Communications Corporation (OH, WV)
2. Gila River Telecommunications, Inc. (AZ – Tribal)
3. Hopi Telecommunications, Inc. (AZ – Tribal)
4. National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) Project (which includes the
following carriers: Alpine Communications (IA); and Leaco Rural Telephone (NM))
5. Nexus Communications, Inc. (OH, MI, IA, NV, CA, LA, MS, NJ)
6. Partnership for a Connected Illinois Project (which includes the following carriers: Adams Telephone Cooperative; Cass Telephone Company; Harrisonville Telephone Company; Madison Telephone Company; Mid-Century Telephone Cooperative; Shawnee Telephone Company; and Wabash Telephone Cooperative (IL))
7. PR Wireless, Inc. (Puerto Rico)
8. Puerto Rico Telephone Company (Puerto Rico)
9. T-Mobile Puerto Rico LLC (Puerto Rico)
10. TracFone Wireless, Inc. project using smartphones (FL, MD, TX, WA, WI, MA)
11. Troy Cablevision, Inc. (AL)
12. Vermont Telephone Company, Inc. (VT)
13. Virgin Mobile USA, L.P. (MA, OH)
14. XChange Telecom Corp. (NY)Wireline Competition Bureau Staff Contact: Kimberly Scardino at 202-418-1442
Association Management Solutions, LLC (AMS), who provide secretariat services for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), have also produced this joyful holiday video..
On Wednesday, December 19, 2012 the Washington DC Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC-DC) presented a WCIT Post Mortem to contemplate the recent World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai and the new International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) that were drafted there, leading to a lack of consensus among the attending member states. The event was webcast live via the Internet Society Chapters Webcasting Channel and is archived on the ISOC DC YouTube Channel and can be seen below.
Moderator: Laura DeNardis, Ph.D. – Professor, Author, Internet Governance Scholar
Panel:
The Honorable Terry Kramer – U.S. Ambassador, Head of Delegation, World Conference on International Telecommunications at U.S. Department of State
Sally Wentworth – Senior Manager of Public Policy, The Internet Society
Harold Feld – Senior Vice President, Public Knowledge
J. Beckwith Burr – Deputy General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer, Neustar, Inc.
Today Wednesday December 19 2012 the Internet Society’s newly formed Kenya Chapter (ISOC KE) is holding its launch event – the 1st Annual Internet Forum in Nairobi. The forum’s dual theme is “Celebrating 20 Years of The Internet Society Globally – The Status and Future of The Internet in Kenya”. The event is being webcast live on the Internet Society Chapters Channel. Nairobi is UTC+3, thus 8 hours ahead of NYC.
What: ISOC Kenya launch event: 1st Annual Internet Forum
Where: Bishop Magua Centre, Ngong Road, Nairobi
When: Wednesday December 19 2012 0800–1630 EAT | 0500-1330 UTC | 0000-0830 EST
Agenda: http://isoc-ny.org/isoc-ke/ISOC_KE_Launch_Event.pdf
Webcast: http://www.livestream.com/internetsocietychapters
Twitter: #isoc_kelaunch
On December 11 2012 Manhattan Borough President, and candidate for City Comptroller, Scott Stringer issued “Start-up City: Growing New York City’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for All“. The report delineates 11 areas in which NYC can act to foster growth and access to its developing tech economy. Section 3 is devoted to connectivity, and is reproduced below:
III. THE “FOURTH UTILITY”: IMPROVING INTERNET CONNECTIVITY IN NEW YORK CITY
“It’s like the elephant in the room is that bandwidth here sucks…There has to be ways for the city to construct much better bandwidth availability for start-ups.” – David Pakman, Partner, Venrock111
Defining the Problem: New York’s lack of reliable, high-speed internet is limiting the growth of Tech 2.0. Though entrepreneurs in New York have access to broadband, many of those we interviewed said that the City’s telecom infrastructure is well behind where it should be for a city vying to be one of the nation’s two leading technology hubs. In fact, many start-ups that have looked for affordable space in former industrial districts outside of Manhattan have had to abandon those plans after discovering highspeed internet connections were not available.
Goal: Improve internet speed and reliability by increasing competition throughout the five boroughs and opening up government property to fiber optic cable.
(More …)
City and State are today, Tuesday December 18 2012, presenting a full day forum #RealPolitech at New York Law School. The forum informs and encourages practical and material uses of technology in government, campaigns, media, and the industries that operate in and around these spaces. The day’s discussions look to ground the sometimes ethereal concepts with active examples of current, existing applications and how they can be best utilized. Participants include the New York City Council Technology Committee, DOITT, the Board of Education. The event is being webcast live, and will be archived.
What: City and State #RealPolitech
Where: New York Law School
When: Tuesday December 18 2012 10am-5pm EST
Agenda: http://www.cityandstateny.com/real-politech/
Webcast: http://nyls.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/934fe0f10bff467d90b0353e719c712a1d
Twitter: #RealPolitech
Today, Tuesday 18 December 2012 BroadbandUS TV will present a lunchtime discussion 2012 Year in Review, What Lays Ahead. Hosted by Jim Baller and Marty Stern, speakers include Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge and several top analysts. Topics: Obama reelected, Gigabit initiatives (Google Fiber, GigU, Gigabit Squared, US-Ignite, Chattanooga, Case Western Reserve, etc.), the Verizon-Cable deal, CAF-ICC and spectrum reform, FirstNet, the Aereo litigation and other challenges to traditional broadcast and cable models, community broadband, Stimulus projects advance, the FCC’s major changes to programming access and media access rules, threats to the future of the PSTN. Sure to be a good event. It will be webcast live (free registration required).
What: BroadbandUS TV 2012 Year in Review, What Lays Ahead
When: Tuesday 18 December 2012 1pm-2.30pm EST
Webcast: http://www.tvworldwide.com/events/broadbandpolicy/121218/
Questions: email to info@tvworldwide.com
Twitter: #broadband
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