WASHINGTON, March 15, 2010 – Blair Levin, head of the Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband plan and the “national purposes” team at the agency previewed key points from the upcoming national broadband plan.

The object of the plan, they said, is not just to expand broadband networks, but to enable the creation of applications and innovations built upon that network. The six primary objective areas presented were healthcare, education, energy, civic engagement, economic expansion, and public safety.

CHICAGO, March 12, 2010 – When the City of Chicago has tried its hand at computerized technology of recent, it hasn’t exactly been a hit with citizens.

Those fancy electronic signs on public transit platforms? They tell you everything except the time the next trains will arrive, a la London’s Underground. Those year-old parking meter kiosks that take credit cards? Convenient, perhaps—though they also ushered in an era of quadrupled parking fees.

So when city officials unveiled Chicago’s official new website Friday, they took great pains to emphasize that www.cityofchicago.org would make life simpler for residents, businesses and visitors alike.

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2010 – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski explained his agency’s role in the merger review process on Thursday before senators, with an emphasis on the pending union of NBC Universal and Comcast.

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2010 – Panelists from the Federal Communications Commission, Capitol Hill, public interest groups and the private sector addressed issues of FCC reform and regulatory responsibility at “An FCC for the Internet Age: Reform and Standard-Setting, a half-day conference sponsored by Public Knowledge, Silicon Flatirons and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2010 – The Federal Communications Commission could do a better job of collecting and managing the information it gathers from consumers, businesses and other entities, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

Google’s entrance into the Broadband ISP arena may have lasting effects within the ISP community.

WASHINGTON, February 10, 2010 – The head of the Federal Communications Commission’s internal “think tank” said Tuesday that the agency was taking a fresh look at all aspects of its broadband data-collection processes: collection, validation and analysis, and dissemination.

Speaking to a roomful of panelists and telecom officials who attended Tuesday’s Broadband Breakfast Club in spite of the snow, Office of Strategic Planning Chief Paul de Sa said that the agency was sensitive to the need to balance proprietary information with the desire for transparency in its data-collection processes.

In a keynote on the topic of “Setting the Table for the National Broadband Plan: Collecting and Using Broadband Data,” de Sa began by asking questions that frame the work of the agency on broadband data.

Recent hearings before the House on the proposed merger between Comcast and NBCU drew both accolades and skepticism for regulators on Feb 4, 2010. The skepticism seemed to come from what was perceived as inconsistencies in previous statements by CEO’s Roberts and Zucker from what was being purported in the public meeting.

Since announcement of the Comcast/NBC-Universal merger consummated the deal creating subsequent analysis and conjecture about how the new venture will be structured, with its impact on programming distribution and fears of dominance, and anti-trust issues within the marketplace; Comcast is set to go before regulators to convince a skeptical crowd how this union [...]

WASHINGTON, January 21, 2010 – The Federal Communications Commission in a Tuesday workshop explored consumer choice, user control of their online experience and the importance of transparency.

The agency’s fourth Open Internet Workshop on Consumers, Transparency and the Open Internet focused on the sixth principle of network neutrality – transparency.