FCC to toughen internet recening rules

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been taken the first
formal steps towards tougher rules for today's broadband. FCC had asked for public comment on three different plans, igniting an expensive lobbying campaign by all sides. The looming battle follows a court ruling questioning the FCC's right to regulate internet service providers after one throttled traffic to users.The five commissioners on the FCC board were split 3-2 in putting out for public comment proposals on new regulations for the broadband industry.That court ruling dealt a major blow to a central plank of the FCC's broadband plan called net neutrality which demands that all data traffic be treated equally.
'Third way'

One of the three plans the public is being asked to comment on, and which is favoured by FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, is called the "third way". This would involve reclassifying broadband so it went from being a lightly regulated service to one with more vigorous oversight.

In return for this tightening up, Mr Genachowski has proposed the new classification would not regulate on how much people pay for their broadband. It would also shy away from overseeing internet content, services, applications or electronic commerce sites.

The other two options include leaving the existing regulatory framework in place or imposing the full force of stricter regulations.

ISPs, such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon, prefer the status quo and have come out against the "third way" proposal.

"This is impossible to justify on either a policy or legal basis and we remain confident that if the FCC persists in its course - and we truly hope it does not - the courts will surely overturn their action," said Jim Cicconi, AT&T's senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs.

Verizon said the FCC's move was "a terrible idea". By contrast, web giants such as Google and Amazon extol the value of free-flowing web traffic and an open internet. "Broadband infrastructure is too important to be left outside of any oversight," said Richard Whitt, Google's telecom and media counsel in a blog posting.

'To the death'

The political dynamics of the FCC board, two Republicans and three Democrats, imply that the "third way" looks almost certain to be the plan it adopts.Some suspect this will provoke more lobbying and may draw legal challenges."There is a very big fight brewing and it's the carriers versus everybody else," said Erik Sherman, analyst with BNET.com, part of CBS's digital business network.

"There is little doubt it's going to be a right data Donnybrook and I am not sure the consumers are winners in any circumstances. These companies are not fighting for the little guy. They are fighting for themselves and higher profit margins." That view was echoed by Public Knowledge, a Washington based public advocacy group."It's a tough road ahead and the telcos are going to fight this to the death," communications director Art Brodsky told BBC News. "AT&T in the first quarter of this year spent $6m on lobbying. That is one company. One quarter. Compare that to Google which spent $4m in the whole of last year."The Computer and Communications Industry Association said the "third way" option is the only realistic option. "Without deliberate FCC action, consumers, entrepreneurs, small businesses and non-profits will be left completely powerless against the corporate commercial interests of their unregulated internet access providers," said Ed Black, association president.

'Misguided'

A research paper released ahead of the FCC vote warned that net neutrality rules could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs in the USA . The report argued that a 10% reduction in investment by broadband providers would cost more than 500,000 jobs before 2015. "These regulations severely restrict the ability of network companies to manage their own network traffic, what technology and what techniques they will use to get a robust service and will close off important new business models in this new world we live in," Bret Swanson, president of technology research firm Entropy Economics told the BBC.Fellow author Charles Davidson of the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School said: "With the US economy still in a fragile state, imposing restrictive regulation on one of the country's most dynamic sectors is misguided."

The internet is not just for the young

Helping older people get online is vital, and part of a wider transformation, says Bill Thompson.

It's Silver Surfers' Day on May 21st and over one thousand five hundred events will be taking place across the UK offering older people a gentle introduction to using a computer and getting online in supportive and friendly settings like UK Online Centres, libraries and Age Concern branches.

The organisers have persuaded Dame Vera Lynn to record a video message encouraging people to learn how to download music, while Terry Wogan has been telling everyone who will listen that "it's so easy that any old Janet and John could get online".

This sort of familiarisation is vitally important because there are many people out there who either think computers and the internet are too complicated for them to use or simply can't see why they are of any interest.
Important skills

Showing people what's possible and explaining how they can use the network to do things they want to do anyway, like find the songs they remember or send old photos to family members, is a great way of bringing down the barriers.

Many of the events will use material from a special website called "On the Day", which covers important skills like how to e-mail, scan and upload photos, place an online order and listen to music. The site aims to presents the tasks in a way that will make it relevant to older people.



Silver Surfers' Day has been going since 2001, and I've been a supporter for many years. I remember when Digital Unite, the organisers, called themselves "Hairnet" in a jokey reference to their target audience.

But this year it has a special relevance to me, as I'll be fifty in October and with my white beard and greying hair I'll qualify as a silver surfer myself.

Even though I'm slightly outside their target audience for basic computer skills, since I've been working in the computing industry and as a technology writer for nearly thirty years, my support for their work is undiminished.

This is because we need to ensure that older people are comfortable with computers and the network, otherwise we will never be able to claim we live in a "Digital Britain".

This matters especially now, as with a new government in place there is bound to be a shift in priorities over the Digital Britain agenda.

The Liberal Democrat leadership is under pressure to revisit the Digital Economy Act, which was rushed into law just before Parliament was dissolved and widely criticised for being poorly-considered and damaging to the network economy rather than supportive of it.
Arguments revisited

So we may have the opportunity to revisit some of the arguments that took place earlier in the year.

There will be less money to spend on social goods, and even though the argument for funding digital inclusion projects is strong because of the economic return they can generate, we can anticipate significant funding reductions.

And if attempts to restore economic confidence are unsuccessful then people will have less money to spend online, making it harder for online businesses to thrive and grow, reducing the attractiveness of online services and creating a dangerous downward spiral.

However the benefits of ensuring that everyone in the UK has full access to the network, knows how to use the core services and is given whatever assistance they need in terms of special equipment or training to ensure that their access is real rather than just possible, are enormous.

One of the most important things that the new government could do with its services is to break away from the idea that each department or ministry has "a website" that is a gateway to the "real" department behind it.

This is the sort of thinking that businesses abandoned years ago.

Amazon simply is its website, and the Guardian is an online news service that also prints a daily paper. If we required government departments like Revenue and Customs to act in this integrated way then it might be able to perform its role far more effectively.

But we can only do this if almost everyone is able and willing to access these services online, so that the costs of supporting those who are simply unable to do so are manageable.

We should not compromise on the quality of the public services we deliver, and nobody must be left behind when they are offered online.

But the time has surely come to switch the default assumption about how services are offered, and make the investment in training, network access into all areas of the UK and appropriate support for those unable to be online.



Bill Thompson is an independent journalist and regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet. He is currently working with the BBC on its archive project.

Air Force plane latest information

With the launch Thursday of the X-37B spacecraft aboard an Atlas V rocket, the U.S. Air Force is taking a page from NASA's space shuttle program.

Looking somewhat like a traditional shuttle but at roughly one-quarter the size, the unmanned X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle took off for its maiden space voyage from Cape Canaveral in Florida and reached a low earth orbit late in the day. The X-37B is intended to serve as a platform for experiments and to offer insights on transporting satellite sensors and other equipment to and from space.

"If these technologies on the vehicle prove to be as good as we estimate, it will make our access to space more responsive, perhaps cheaper, and push us in the vector toward being able to react to warfighter needs more quickly," said Gary Payton, the Air Force deputy undersecretary for space programs, in a statement on the Air Force Web site.

Does that cryptic reference to "warfighter needs" signal the dawn of a new era of space weaponry? That probably remains some distance off in the future. The Pentagon is still in the very early days, for instance, of sorting out how to use directed-energy gear such as its lone Airborne Laser prototype. And certainly there are plenty of non-weaponized resources for the military in orbit, such as GPS and reconnaissance satellites, that a space plane could service.

As part of this initial mission, the Air Force will evaluate the X-37B's guidance, navigation, thermal protection, and unmanned operations in orbit, re-entry, and landing. It will function in space like other satellites, with operators on Earth monitoring its travels. Eventually, the Air Force will tell the space plane to head home. "Upon being given the command to return to Earth, the X-37B will automatically descend through the atmosphere and land on the designated runway. There is no one on the ground with a joystick flying it," said Lt. Col. Troy Giese, the X-37B systems program director, in a statement.

Though the 11,000-pound vehicle--about 29 feet long, with a wingspan of just under 15 feet--is designed to stay in orbit for 270 days, the exact duration of its first flight hasn't been revealed. Upon completing its first mission, the Boeing-built X-37B is due to touch down at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The resemblance to the space shuttle isn't surprising. The X-37, in fact, was originally a NASA program, with roots in the space agency's lifting-body research, that ran from 1999 to 2004. That effort was intended to help in the design and development of a new Orbital Space Plane that would serve as a transport and rescue vehicle for crews at the International Space Station.

With NASA's fleet of space shuttles due to be retired later this year, the Air Force has been searching for a new class of vehicles to take over the role of reusable space plane. But the X-37B has a ways to go before it's fully fledged.

"There is much to learn in the first few flights on the technologies used on this vehicle, how quickly it can be readied for a re-flight, and on the operational utility," David Hamilton, director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, said in a statement. "We have started discussions with Air Force Space Command [officials] to plan for the possibility for transition to an operational capability, but the system first must prove its utility and cost effectiveness during the test program."

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle on the runway.

(Credit: Boeing)

Lance Whitney wears a few different technology hats--journalist, Web developer, and software trainer. He's a contributing editor for Microsoft TechNet Magazine and writes for other computer publications and Web sites. You can follow Lance on Twitter at @lancewhit. Lance is a member of

NASA: Astronauts, robot has been complete first spacewalk

Computerworld - Two NASA astronauts early today worked hand-in-hand with a robotic arm during a six hour-plus spacewalk to attach a 1,700 pound ammonia tank to the International Space Station.

Space shuttle Discovery Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson worked in space from 1:31 a.m. EDT today to 7:58 a.m. in what was the mission's first spacewalk.

NASA noted this morning that today's spacewalk was the 234th conducted by U.S. astronauts, and the 141st spacewalk in support of the space station.

The replacement ammonia tank was brought to the space station aboard Discovery, which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center early Monday morning.

The astronauts this morning focused on lifting the tank out of the NASA shuttle's cargo bay. During the spacewalk, the space station's main robotic arm, Canadarm II, move the tank into position so it could be temporarily attached to the outside of the station.

The tank will be moved into its permanent position on the space station and attached there during the mission's second and third spacewalks on Sunday and Tuesday, according to the space agency.

During the spacewalk, Mastracchio and Anderson also retrieved an experiment that had been attached to the outside of the station's Japanese Kibo Laboratory, and removed a failed gyroscope that is part of the station's navigation system. The pair attached a replacement gyroscope.

The robotic arms onboard the space shuttles and the space station have long played key roles in various NASA projects.

There are three robotic arms on the space station - the Canadarm II, a newer device dubbed Dextre and a smaller robotic arm that's attached to the Japanese module.

The robots are regularly used to inspect the shuttle's heat shield for damage during liftoff. The devices are also used to move cargo out of the shuttle and attach it to the space station. Astronauts have even used the robotic arms to be tansported from one end of the space station to the other.

Canadarm II is expected to be used throughout Discovery's 13-day mission, which will continue into next week.

Lighting top Tips for light users

• Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) use 75% less energy than the typical
incandescent light bulbs used in useavilble area or your home. By switching to
CFLs at a cost of about
$2 per bulb, not only will the CFL bulbs last 10 times longer but they will also
offer you a potential savings of $100 per year on your energy bill.

• Plan your lighting. Not every room needs the same amount of general light. Plan within a room to provide general background lighting and supplementary task lighting. A good lighting plan can reduce lighting costs and still provide all the light you need.

• Use natural lighting in cold weather to let in warm sunlight and keep curtains closed during the summer to keep the house cool. Open curtains and shades during the day instead of using lighting. Consider skylights and solar tubes during remodeling or new construction design.

• Control outdoor lighting. To assure only dusk-to-dawn operation of your outdoor lights, control your fixtures with a photocell or a timer.
• Keep bulbs and fixtures clean. Dirt and dust reduce light output and efficiency. For safety reasons, don't clean bulbs and fixtures when they're hot or plugged in.

• If you have torchiere fixtures with halogen lamps, consider replacing them with compact fluorescent torchiers. Compact fluorescent torchieres use 60 to 80 percent less energy, can produce more light and do not get as hot as the halogen torchieres. Halogen torchieres are a fire risk because of the high temperature of the halogen bulb.
• During the holidays, choose LED lighting. Set your lights on times so that they are turned off in the daytime.


• Turn off lights in any room not being used, even if your absence will only be momentary. For the outdoors, turn on lights only when needed. CFLs use 75 percent less energy than typical light bulbs.

• Turn off decorative outdoor natural gas lamps. Eight such lamps burning year-round use as much natural gas as it takes to heat an average-size home during an entire winter.

• When choosing a new lamp, buy three-way lamps. They make it easy to keep lighting levels low when intense light is not necessary, and that saves electricity. Use the high switch only for reading or other activities that require brighter light.

• During the holidays, choose LED lighting. Set your lights on times so that they are turned off in the daytime.