WASHINGTON, June 21, 2019 – During a period in which the global trading order for physical goods has been upended by protectionist moves from the Trump administration, one potential bright spot is the “unprecedented opportunity” to create a framework of rules around digital trade, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said on Thursday. Wyden said that the… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 19, 2019 – Smart cities and smart regions need better broadband, but also “soft infrastructure,” or the policies and practices that make these initiatives successful, according to a Wednesday panel hosted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's BroadbandUSA program. The session by the Commerce Department’s NTIA, “Building Smart Cities and Communities at… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 18, 2019 - The Senate on Tuesday unleashed further criticism of Chinese technology players as witnesses told a Commerce subcommittee that unmanned aircraft systems are targets for “industrial espionage.” One witness, Catherine Cahill of the Alaska Center for UAS Integration, said that the Chinese company DJI dominates the U.S. market for small, commercial… Keep Reading
ARLINGTON, Virginia - June 18, 2019 – Comprehensive legislation addressing accessibility is necessary to ensure that information technology is available to a wider group of people, particularly to people with disabilities, said panelists speaking at the M-Enabling Summit here on Tuesday. Innovations involving wireless 5G technologies, for example, use multiple bandwidths including mid-band and low-band,… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 12, 2019 - New critics of Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act seem to emerge every day on both the political right and the left. The law states that "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 6, 2019 - One of the greatest mistakes policymakers can make as they begin to make rules governing artificial intelligence technologies is a “failure of imagination,” said Purdue University Fellow Lorraine Kisselburgh at a panel hosted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center at the National Press Club on Wednesday. The panel, entitled “AI and… Keep Reading
MONTROSE, Colorado, June 5, 2019 – The Rural Telecommunications Congress, a 22-year-old grassroots organization advocating for better broadband in Rural America, has announced its national “Fueling the Fire of Rural Innovation” webcast series. The free webcast series begins with an event in Montrose, Colorado (the county seat of Montrose County), on Tuesday, July 2, 2019.… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, May 30, 2019 – The development of artificial intelligence will bring extreme changes to the future of warfare, a panel of scientists said Thursday, calling the impact of current advances analogous to the development of agriculture or the domestication of the horse. The panel was hosted by the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, April 4, 2019 -- The White House's latest move to protect American industries and consumers could potentially give President Trump an opening to hit back at some of his favorite targets. National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro on Wednesday announced that the President had signed a Presidential Memorandum to combat "a very serious problem"… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Google is beginning to enter into hunker-down mode. The company is finally alive to the grave new threats that it faces. They are two-pronged: More-intensive antitrust scrutiny, and regulation of privacy/AI/Section 230 free speech. As Drew Clark wrote about for a CATO Institute policy late last year, "Seeking Intervention Backfired on Silicon… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, December 11, 2018 – The CEO of search engine Google came to Washington on Tuesday and politely rebutted all charges that the world’s largest search engine is biased against conservative viewpoints. In the calm and controlled voice of an engineer, CEO Sundar Pichai said, “Our products are built without any bias,” responding to a… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, December 11, 2018 — Republicans and conservative activists used Tuesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing with Google CEO Sundar Pichai to revive claims that large technology companies are biased against them. But these same activists appear unwilling to accept any result that doesn’t validate their claim. One prominent Republican who has raised claims of censorship… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, December 11, 2018 - This is how bad it's gotten for Google in Washington: The company is taking out ads on the back of the conservative National Review while, and the same time, the story suggests gaslighting the company. The ad picks a conservative-friendly theme: "Now you can search 'jobs for veterans' and enter… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Are Facebook and Amazon really GDPR compliant? Researchers used artificial intellence software to analyze Facebook and Amazon new GDPR policies. The AI tool found one-third of policy clauses to be “potentially problematic” or containing “insufficient information”, which could put the companies’ in violation of GDPR. Meanwhile, Google and Facebook asserted they are working… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 12, 2018 - A Republican congressman on Wednesday criticized the U.S. government’s treatment of the ZTE ban as a waste of an opportunity that could have given the U.S. a leg up in the race for new technology. Earlier, the Commerce Department announced that the U.S. has signed an agreement to lift the… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 25, 2018 - Carnegie Mellon University academics provided a rare positive outlook on what data analytics can do to improve society, a stark contrast to recent outrage over data privacy scandals. At a Wednesday Capitol Hill briefing on, “Artificial Intelligence for Good”, Carnegie Mellon hosted an optimistic evaluation of developments of AI in… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 21, 2018 - The United States Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a blow to the online retail industry by overturning a 26-year-old ruling, Quill v. North Dakota, which had prohibited states from forcing mail-order retailers to collect sales tax from customers in states where they lacked a physical presence. The 5-4 ruling on Thursday, in South… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Blockchain is beginning to be recognized as much more than simply the technology powering Bitcoin. As this understanding seeps into the popular consciousness, policy-makers will begin to recognize how significant this innovation is for distributed computing and automating processes - financial, transactional, logistical and legal. Shane Tews at AEI Ideas delves into… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 4, 2018 - If the tenor of a Thursday event at the CATO Institute is any indication, Facebook continues to face tough scrutiny from many sides in Washington. Although the event was titled, “Will Social Media Save Democracy?”, the panel instead became a multi-pronged attack on the company framed around a more negative… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: With Jeffrey Katzenberg getting into the game, we now see a multitude of video entities and many over-the-top outfits promoting an array of content offerings. Katzenberg's take? Short-form TV. Let a thousand flowers bloom! Katzenberg’s NewTV Video Startup Raises $800 Million, from Bloomberg Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg has secured about $800 million… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: I watched this video of Google CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrating Google Assistant, and I also was impressed. While I agree that there are some real social engineering issues raised by the assistant, I'm not sure that "disclosure" requirement called for by some of the technology's critics really meet the mark. Is there… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, May 8, 2018 -- The White House on Tuesday announced it would hold an Artificial Intelligence summit, which will "bring together over 100 senior government officials, technical experts from top academic institutions, heads of industrial research labs, and American business leaders who are now adopting these emerging technologies to benefit their customers, workers, and… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: The Trump administration's protectionism is already having significant impacts on many American businesses and industries, and may begin to have significant impacts on the fiber broadband world. This post by Doug Dawson outlines some of the moves in Washington against both Huawei and ZTE, two Chinese telecommunications manufacturing giants. Incidentally, I had… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Think of all that has transpired over the past century and a half! Remembering Alexander Graham Bell, from Commscope On March 7, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his revolutionary new device—the telephone. Since then, telephony has evolved in ways even this great thinker could not have imagined. After connecting the world… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: A good attempt to "decode" the furor surrounding Facebook's artificial intelligence experiment, and all of those chattering robots. Scare stories aside, the opportunity for machine intelligence and human intelligence to complement each other is truly remarkable. The 'creepy Facebook AI' story that captivated the media | Facebook has been experimenting with AIs that… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 22, 2017 — President Donald Trump on Thursday told reporters his administration is focused on eliminating regulations that could hinder investment and growth in the technology sector. "My administration has been laser focused on removing the government barriers to job growth and prosperity,” Trump said during the White House’s American Leadership in Emerging… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 21, 2017 — The White House on Thursday plans to continue its “tech week” by hosting a group of 25 technology company founders and CEOs to meet with Trump Administration officials on new technologies and promoting economic progress, Deputy Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios said on Wednesday. “Tomorrow I’m very excited for [the… Keep Reading
Editor’s Note: This past week, Drew Clark’s column in the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, Utah, was on the "The zeitgeist of modern Provo: Jobs and a good quality of life." Click here for links to all of his Deseret News columns.
PROVO — What do you get when you cross a thriving technology and startup community with what Gallup called "the best place to live in America"?
That's the zeitgeist here in Utah County. It'll be celebrated with a new technology, business and cultural event here, dubbed Startfest, beginning on Monday, Aug. 31.
And because of the still-coalescing cultural power of information and communications technologies, Utah as a whole is sending a message to the world: Citizens of a particular city or region are no longer necessarily forced to choose between quality of life and economic opportunity.
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Editor's Note: This past week, Drew Clark's column in the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, Utah, was on the importance of balance in our patent system. Click here for links to all of his Deseret News columns.
ASPEN, Colo. — As with many former mining camps in the Rocky Mountains, this one is best known for winter sports like skiing. But this mountain town has also developed a summertime niche: Hosting policy-makers seeking the cool air refuge from humid Washington summers.
This year, the refreshing breeze came in from the new head of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
For nearly 20 years, Aspen in late August has been home to a small but influential gathering of the Technology Policy Institute. It gathers legislators, regulators, lobbyists and academics who seek to shape the course of policy surrounding information and communications technology.
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WASHINGTON, November 4, 2014 – Internet television services like the constantly beleaguered Aereo may soon be regulated like cable TV, if the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has his way. In a recent blog post, Tom Wheeler stated the possibility of making the rules that govern video content and providers “technology neutral.” If the… Keep Reading
October 17, 2014 - Fiber-optic communication is increasingly being recognized as a new necessity of urban life, with momentum for cities to obtain Gigabit Networks enabled by fiber is growing every week. On Monday, October 20, a new group of cities -- called Next Century Cities -- launches a "city-to-city collaboration that supports community leaders… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 10, 2014 - Satellite TV provider Dish Network is lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to block Comcast's acquisition of Time Warner Cable, according to National Journal. Charlie Ergen, chairman of Dish, told FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that "serious competitive concerns" would arise from the deal and that Comcast would effectively control "choke points"… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, July 9, 2014 - The internet is the First Amendment issue of our time, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn, said at a Tuesday panel discussion hosted by the non-profit advocacy group Free Press. He chastised opponents of net neutrality for not understanding that without it, "deep-pocketed corporations can pay to get their content to you… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 30, 2014 -Following the Supreme Court's blow last week against Aereo, the video streaming service has shut down indefinitely as it drags back into the lower courts. Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia wrote a letter to consumers explaining the decision. "We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2014 – In a Federal Commissions Commission meeting tinged with protest, the agency voted Thursday to begin a process to re-established certain network neutrality rules after they had been struck down by a federal appeals court in January. On a 3-2 vote, the agency’s three Democrats kicked off a proceeding seeking public input on how to find a solution protecting and promote the open flow of information on the internet that will pass legal scrutiny. Chairman Tom Wheeler retained the support of Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn – even though Rosenworcel said she only “concurred” with the proposal. [...] Keep Reading
PARK CITY, Utah, January 23, 2014 - On the internet, no one knows you're a child.
That, at least, was the message I took from watching the film about the life of Aaron Swartz. The film, "The Internet's Own Boy," premiered this week here at the Sundance Film Festival, during which it received a sustained standing ovation.
The documentary is a biography of, and tribute to, the all-too-short life of Swartz, who died a year ago this month, at age 26.
Swartz had been under intense pressure from the federal prosecutors in Massachusetts. Criminal charges filed against him, if proven, could have imprisoned him for 35 years. Those charges stemmed from Swartz's having downloaded millions of articles from JSTOR, a digital library of academic journals, onto a computer at the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While it is unclear what Swartz intended to do with the articles, it seems implausible that he would have republished them in an act of copyright infringement.
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LAS VEGAS, January 8, 2014 - Coming to the International Consumer Electronics Show year after year enables a technology observer to see the evolutionary power continuously wrought by the digital revolution.
Herewith follows Broadband Breakfast's impressionistic list of five top trends emerging from the mammoth trade show here.
As the trade show isn't even half-over, we're not aiming for definitiveness with this list. Rather, we aim to glimpse the future of technology in a context that changes with the start of every year.
LAS VEGAS, January 7, 2014 - Just six months on the job, the new CEO of Silicon Valley computing giant Intel came to the International Consumer Electronics Show here to hail the power of tiny.
"Most of my career, computing has been something that you hold in your hand, in your pocket, or that sits on a desk," said CEO Brian Krzanich. "That idea is about to be transformed."
"We are entering this tiny world," he said, referring to the Intel Tri-Gate three-dimensional 22 nanometer transistor, and "tiny could not be better." Future advances toward 14 nanometer transistors are in the works, he said.
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Monday, October 28, 2013 - Drew Clark, Chairman and Publisher of BroadbandBreakfast.com, will lead a panel discussion at the Broadband Communities Conference next week on the role of fiber developments in fostering economic growth. The Economic Development Conference Series will be held in Tinley Park, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) from Tuesday, November 5, through… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, September 17, 2013 - The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday urged the Federal Communications Commission take action to permit consumers to “unlock” their cellular phones. The Obama administration is urging the agency to allow consumers to purchase and make use of any wireless provider's service with any cellular device, provided that the consumer is… Keep Reading