Earlier this week, the Safe Internet Alliance presented a Capitol Hill roundtable discussion entitled, “Safer by Design: Policies and Principles,” to facilitate a conversation around industry solutions for dealing with consumer safety issues and privacy demands.

The event featured key industry voices from the private sector, special interest groups, and federal agencies. The keynote address was given by Congressman Rick Boucher (D-VA), and Anna Gomez, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communication and Information at NTIA gave the introductory remarks that spearheaded the discussion. (For a full list of speakers, click here)

The main discussion centered around the implications safety and privacy have on broadband adoption. As the industry continues to address Internet safety and privacy concerns, policymakers are reviewing the possibility that those efforts could lead to increased broadband adoption. Some known barriers to broadband adoption include a lack of digital literacy and understood relevance. This often means average citizens are simply afraid to go online because they don’t understand the Internet, or believe there are potential threats or risks once they are online. One discussant compared Internet browsing with driving a car. In the same regard a driver would use caution when driving, Internet users should employ certain safeguards to protect themselves against predators or criminals. Just as people heed driving warnings but don’t stop driving, they should use broadband while applying Internet safeguards.

Click below to watch the interview with Joel Gurin, Consumer Affairs Bureau Chief at the FCC.

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Earlier this week, Broadband Breakfast hosted their September installment of their event series, with this month’s topic being, “Title I, Title II: What Direction for Broadband Reclassification.” The event featured key industry voices from the private sector and academia. Included on the panel were Link Howeing of Verizon, John Mayo form the Georgetown Center for Business & Pubic Policy, Cathy Sloan of CCIA, Larry Spiwak from the Phoenix Center, Harold Feld of Public Knowledge, and Gerald Duffy of the Western Telecommunications Alliance. The panel was moderated by Politico’s very own Kim Hart.

The premise of the discussion was the recent D.C. Court of Appeals decision in Comcast vs. FCC that brought into question the FCC’s authority to regulate broadband, and has subsequently sparked debate throughout Washington concerning the proper regulatory structure for broadband services. Among the key questions posed to the panelists – Are Title I safeguards sufficient for consumers and government? Who has the authority to develop a regulatory structure for broadband, Congress or the FCC? What does Representative Waxman’s proposed bill say about the way the debate has shifted?

Professor John Mayo was quick to point out that the modern Internet economy looks much different than the public utility world, and regulations need to reflect that difference. He warned that shifting broadband to under a Title II regulatory structure would lead to market uncertainty, potentially harming the constant revenue stream of private investment into infrastructure deployment.

Click below to watch an interview with Jon Mayo following the event.

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NextGenWeb is at the Pennsylvania Broadband Summit where government officials, industry leaders and consumers have all gathered to discuss the state of broadband in both Pennsylvania and the nation. John Horrigan, Associate Director for Research at the FCC and friend of NextGenWeb, delivered the opening keynote.

Horrigan, formerly with the Pew Internet and American Life Project, opened his remarks by describing the three main areas of the National Broadband Plan – deployment of infrastructure, universal adoption, and national purposes – but focused his comments on the second – broadband adoption. Horrigan described very succinct lines upon which broadband adoption can be divided, including level of education, income, and age. Perhaps not surprisingly, more education, coupled with higher income levels and younger age all leads to higher broadband adoption rates.

Horrigan then focused on actual broadband adoption levels, and reasons why non-adopters themselves have cited for their lack of adoption. It should be noted that only 4% of adults cite lack of availability as their reason for not adopting broadband. That means 96% of Americans have access to broadband. The question then – if 96% have access, then why does only 66% actually have broadband? The answer is rather muddled, but there are three main reasons that non-adopters cite for their lack of adoption – price, digital literacy, and relevance.

Now, while many detractors often point to price as being a primary reason, Horrigan was quick to point out that data actually pushes against the notion that broadband in America is too expensive. Only 15% of non-adopters don’t have broadband because they think their monthly bill would be too high.

More importantly, and perhaps more alarming, is that nearly 50% of non-adopters either don’t see broadband as relevant to their lives, are afraid of going online, or don’t believe they have the digital literacy necessary to navigate the web.

The moral of the story? Contrary to what some have said, access and price are not major barriers to broadband adoption. This is why focusing policies on digital literacy and computer ownership programs is not only important, but necessary.

Following his presentation, we caught up with Horrigan to further discuss some of his findings. Click below to watch the interview.

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Earlier this week, Walter McCormick, President & CEO of USTelecom, appeared as a guest on C-SPAN’s The Communicators.  Mr. McCormick was invited to share his valued perspective on the current state of broadband affairs in the U.S.  Previous guests of the show include FCC Commissioners, members of Congress, and other thought leaders working to meet today’s communications policy challenges.     Watch the video below to hear Mr. McCormick discuss the healthy state of competition in America’s broadband industry as well as the potential harms associated with the FCC intent’s to reclassify how broadband is regulated, and particularly how the FCC’s regulatory agenda could adversely impact what has otherwise been a healthy investment climate in broadband infrastructure.

FCC authority over broadband was also a topic of discussion at a recent Berkman Center event in Washington, DC.  One of the expert panelists was Jon Nuechterlein, a Partner at Wilmer Hale who was formerly Deputy General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission.  NextGenWeb sat down with Nuechterlein to discuss the implications of the FCC’s proposed “third way.” His history at the FCC and expertise on these issues make him a valuable voice in this time of great debate (Disclaimer – Nuechterlein speaks on behalf of himself, and his views are not necessarily those of his clients or firm).

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Former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Deborah Taylor Tate penned an op-ed for AOL News telling the FCC they’ve gone down the wrong road with regard to regulating the Internet.  Ms. Tate asks both the FCC and Congress to review the successes the Internet has given all of us under what she called “light touch regulation,” and particularly to look at “the massive boom in advanced technologies that continue to offer completely new tools to American consumers each day, provide new jobs and keep us globally competitive.”   Ms. Tate hopes that “the FCC will be guided down a path that leaves broadband free of burdensome regulation and open to innovation and investment — especially in this historic economic downturn.”

You can read the op-ed in its entirety here.

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Blair Levin, former director of the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative and now a Fellow with the Aspen Institute, spoke this week at a Broadband Breakfast event.  Levin shared his pride in the creation of the National Broadband Plan and also his secret inspiration for it (which is no longer so secret).

Levin referred to an old Apple ad from the late 80’s in which one office executive asks another “which computer do you think is the most powerful?”  The other responds “I think it’s the one people actually use.”  Levin’s point, which is well – taken, is that the important thing is not the numbers, but how people use broadband.

The conversation continued with a panel of key industry officials representing Canada, Korea, the UK, and other parts of Europe, moderated by Lynn Stanton, Senior Editor of TR Reports.   The panelists echoed support for the plan and shared their respective countries’ stories of broadband success.   You can watch the Broadband Breakfast, titled “International Perspectives on the U.S. National Broadband Plan,” in its entirety below.

International Perspectives on the U.S. National Broadband Plan from Broadband Breakfast on Vimeo.

Today, Phoebe Yang, General Counsel for the Omnibus Broadband Initiative at the FCC, joined a panel titled “The Future of Broadband” that was hosted by the CQ-Roll Call Group.  Yang wanted to focus on two calls to action in the broadband plan.  First, she believes the national priorities are key because of how they will benefit Americans. Yang cited that 62% of American workers rely on the Internet to do their jobs, and then touched on just some of the opportunities broadband creates in the education and public safety sectors.  Her second focus is making broadband ubiquitous, which led to the establishment of the Connect America and Mobility Funds to help with access to the unserved.

NextGenWeb will continue to follow the challenges and successes as the FCC continues to move into the implementation phase of the National Broadband Plan.

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Technology is evolving rapidly and policymakers are actively attempting to keep up, especially the Federal Communications Commission.  The FCC has ambitious plans around important broadband policy issues like net neutrality, Universal Service, and common carrier regulations.  And so New America Foundation assembled a panel of speakers, from both sides of the regulation spectrum, to discuss where they believe the FCC currently stands in its authority to regulate, especially in light of the recent D.C. Circuit Court decision that determined the agency lacked the authority to regulate Comcast in the way they manage their network.  The question at hand – “FCC – Toothless Regulator or Cop on the Beat?

Panelists seemed unanimous that Congress will need to play a role going forward, although debated whether light touch or heavy regulation should be their approach. Barbara Esbin of the Progress & Freedom Foundation began the discussion sharing several arguments of how limited the FCC’s authority actually is, arguing that to change classification, the FCC would have to prove broadband changed three years ago when the case was decided.  She believes that to succeed on this front, one would have to show the power to compel common carriership, which courts have generally not done.

Hank Hultquist, Vice President of Federal Regulatory at AT&T, was also on the panel.  He believes that there is no reason to believe that things have changed enough to make the Comcast decision different.  Watch the video below to hear more from Hultquist on why he believes that the current rhetoric is too broad on the impact of the Comcast decision on the FCC and why he believes the judgment was fair.

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A diverse group of powerful nonprofit organizations, corporations, and coalitions joined together recently sending a letter to President Obama in support of green technology.  The letter calls for policies that support consumer empowerment to better manage their energy consumption, particularly through the use of technology.

“We are writing to ask that your Administration adopt the goal of giving every household and business access to timely, useful and actionable information on their energy use.  By giving people the ability to monitor and manage their energy consumption, for instance, via their computers, phones or other devices, we can unleash the forces of innovation in homes and businesses.  At the same time, we can harness the power of millions of people to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — and save consumers billions of dollars.”

Broadband deployment and adoption is key to meeting these goals, which is why signatories include broadband providers AT&T and Verizon, in addition to organizations like the Center for American Progress, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.  Even the FCC’s Energy and Environment Director Nick Sinai applauded the letter. “It’s encouraging to see a diverse set of influential organizations endorse the principle that consumers should be able to get access to timely energy data as a way to ‘unleash the forces of innovation in homes and businesses’ and prevent millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions,” Sinai said in his recent blog posting on the FCC’s BlogBand blog.

Click here for more info on how broadband can help save carbon emissions and power a greener future for generations and beyond.

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Right off the bat, Nick Sinai, Energy and Environment Director of the National Broadband Taskforce, declared the theme of yesterday afternoon’s FCC workshop to be innovation.  The workshop discussion, Smart Grid, Broadband and Climate Change, indeed followed his pronouncement.

Several companies and government leaders that are working to solve energy, environment and transportation challenges presented their proposed solutions for the best ways to move America into a more energy efficient 21^st century.  Eric Lightner spoke first on behalf of the Department of Energy’s SmartGrid Task Force about his plans for modernizing electricity delivery, followed by Dean Prochaska of NIST on achieving interoperability, and Mark Dudzinski from GE on the benefits of a Smart Grid, all of which could not be achieved with the power of the broadband network.

And what are some of the benefits of a SmartGrid?

• Demand and response optimization
• Delivery optimization
• Reduction in emissions
• More reliable service
• Better grid management
• Better incorporation of renewables

Broadband was the focus of the second half of the workshop, which included speakers Chris Walker of The Climate Group and Colin Buechler of LifeSize Communications, both of whom supported their assertions by teleconferencing in to participate, and thereby using broadband technology to reduce their carbon footprints.

The need for broadband access and adoption for the country to truly enjoy the benefits of the Smart Grid was unanimous among the panelists.  Broadband would enable consumers to better manage their electric bills, lower their costs, and enjoy other energy saving applications.

In fact, one speaker declared lack of broadband adoption to be a double whammy because that household is missing out on two revolutions — the benefits of broadband and the Smart Grid!

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To encourage public dialogue on the development of a national broadband strategy, the FCC launched a blog this week cleverly titled “BlogBand.” With contributors including FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Broadband Czar Blair Levin, the blog is already an active dialogue platform. The blog represents a great opportunity to follow the formal and informal thoughts of our government’s broadband leadership. It also presents the opportunity for those who are not able to participate in the FCC’s broadband workshops to still be involved in the discussions.

We at NextGenWeb look forward to participating in this innovative, online conversation. Most of the postings to date cover various aspects of the FCC workshops and emphasize the diverse participation among the many stakeholders in our broadband future. From network engineers to consumers to health care providers, teachers and others who use broadband to improve people’s lives, everyone is encouraged to submit their thoughts.

What will you tell our government about what the broadband future means to you?

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