President Bush Signs Broadband Data Improvement Act
Bill had been pushed by Senate Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), requires FCC to report on broadband deployment annually.
By BroadCasting & Cable Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/10/2008 9:54:00 AM
President Bush Friday signed the Broadband Data Improvement Act into law, according to a top staffer on the Senate Commerce Committee.
The bill, which had been pushed by Senate Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), would require the Federal Communications Commission to report on broadband deployment annually rather than periodically.
In addition, the bill: 1) adds a question on the Census Bureau survey about dial-up versus broadband Internet use; 2) asks the Government Accountability Office to come up with information that allows consumers to compare broadband-connection costs and capabilities and the government to compare its broadband penetration with other countries; 3) creates a study of the impact of broadband speeds on small business; and 4) provides grants to identify barriers to broadband adoption.
The bill is in addition to the FCC's own order, adopted in June, to refine and expand its broadband-data collection. That included creating new categories of upload and download speeds to better identify the quality of the service being provided -- how much of that service can support advanced applications like high-resolution video, for example. It also required reporting from wireless operators with subscribers that can browse the Net with their phones and other devices, and it will ask voice-over-Internet-protocol companies to report their customers, as well.
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This act will require schools to implement a curriculum addressing cyberbullying and other social networking issues. There is one curriculum that does just that: www.faceourselves.com
Jill M - 10/13/2008 11:07:00 PM EDT -
Congress should legislate privacy guarantees to ensure that the seemingly benign offering of free broadband is not a convenient tool to achieve "total information awareness" and warrantless spying on virtually the entire U.S. population.
Adam Smith - 10/11/2008 12:19:00 AM EDT
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