Garrett County, Maryland, and Declaration Networks Group (DNG) signed a long-term agreement establishing funding for deployment of a broadband network infrastructure to deliver high-speed Internet services to more than 3,000 unserved or underserved homes and businesses, a DNG news release said. The initiative was jointly developed by Garrett County and the Appalachian Regional Commission, which both committed grant funding to the project, the release said. DNG was selected as the private industry partner by the county through a competitive bid process, it said. DNG will begin its network deployment later this year, the release said.
Six Chicago residents have filed a complaint against the city's amusement tax, which was recently interpreted to include Internet-based streaming services for audio, video and gaming including Netflix, Spotify and XBox Live, the filing said. Chicago’s comptroller ruled in June that the charges paid for accessing these streaming services would attract a 9 percent amusement tax starting Sept. 1. The complaint, filed Sept. 9, alleges the comptroller acted beyond his authority in applying the amusement tax to activities it wasn’t originally intended for. According to the complaint, new taxes can’t be imposed without a city council vote, so the tax on streaming platforms is legally invalid.
CenturyLink is increasing its fiber footprint by expanding its gigabit network to residential and small business customers in parts of six more states -- Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Dakota -- the telco said in a news release. CenturyLink now offers gigabit Internet service to residential and small business customers in parts of 17 states and, by the end of 2015, should have more than 700,000 households enabled with fiber-to-the-home technology capable of uploading and downloading information at speeds up to 1 Gbps, it said.
California Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) decision to veto a proposed drone law was applauded by CEA and the Small UAV Coalition (see 1509100008). The bill would have “dramatically inhibited UAV industry growth without delivering meaningful consumer privacy protections,” said the coalition in a news release Thursday. Vetoing the bill means drones and other unmanned aircraft can continue to revolutionize a “wide array of consumer and commercial activities, creating new businesses and jobs and providing life-changing solutions,” said CEA CEO Gary Shapiro in a news release Thursday.
Every city needs its own broadband plan, said Blair Levin, of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, during the NATOA conference in San Diego Friday. He said the debate between private interests over how unlicensed bands should be regulated is “way too important” not to involve cities. While some see the country’s communications system as a triumph of free-market forces, the telco, cable and wireless networks all required government actions to make the economics viable, providing access to rights of ways and poles, access to the programming created by others, construction permitting, access to spectrum, and much more, he said. Levin also said the most important “new commons” to develop in this era is broadband, with its networks, devices and applications. Making a broadband plan for each city should start from an analysis of where market forces are heading, he said. And in those plans, the communities must assess where they fit in the current market, Levin said. He said every plan he has seen is different but the vision remains the same: “Ubiquitous, affordable, abundant bandwidth, with everyone on and using the platform to improve public services.” To achieve that vision, the cities must drive fiber deeper, use spectrum more efficiently, get everyone on, and create applications and re-imagine government processes to use the platform to improve the delivery of public goods and services, he said. That same vision and those four strategies apply to cities, but the tactics for achieving that vision are diverse, he said. Levin also addressed the digital divide but mentioned one that “no one has noticed,” the digital divide between Starkville, Mississippi, and such cities as New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington, and well-off suburbs like Beverly Hills, California, Scarsdale, New York, and Bethesda, Maryland. Starkville residents have not one but two options to purchase an affordable gigabit, which is two more options than the residents have in those large cities and wealthy suburbs, he said.
Google invited Irvine and San Diego, both in California, and Louisville, Kentucky, to explore rolling out Google Fiber to the cities, said a Thursday blog post from the company. The next step will be a joint planning process with city leaders to do a detailed study of factors that affect construction, such as local topography, housing density and the condition of existing infrastructure, the post said. Once that's completed, Google will decide if it's feasible to deliver Google Fiber to each of the cities, the post said.
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoed a drone bill Wednesday that would have allowed trespassing charges to be filed against an individual flying drones less than 350 feet above real property without the express permission of the property owner, regardless whether anyone’s privacy was violated. In his veto message to the Senate, Brown said drone technology raises “novel issues that merit careful examination” but said he vetoed SB-142 because, “while well-intentioned,” it “could expose the occasional hobbyist and the FAA-approved commercial user alike to burdensome litigation and new causes of action.” Brown asked the state Senate to look at this issue more carefully. Brown signed a bill proposed by Sen. Anthony Cannella (R), SB-676, that enables easier prosecution of those who engage in cyber exploitation and revenge porn. Meanwhile, California’s Electronic Communications Privacy Act (SB-178) passed the Senate 32-4 Wednesday.
Honolulu Police Department officials will implement Smart911, a free national public safety service that allows residents to provide the information dispatchers need, before an emergency happens, said a news release from Smart911. Honolulu is the first city in the state to use the system, the release said. Smart911 enables citizens to create a free safety profile online that can include any information about their households that they want 911 to have in an emergency, the release said. When a resident makes an emergency call, that person's safety profile is automatically displayed to the 911 call taker, "allowing them to send the right response teams to the right location with the right information," it said. Smart911 is available in 40 states and more than 1,500 municipalities, the release said. Smart911 data is private and secure, and is used only for emergency responses and available in the event of an emergency call, the release said.
The broadband landscape is changing for local governments, said Gigi Sohn, counselor to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, during the NATOA conference in San Diego Wednesday. The FCC is making its own changes to reflect changing conditions, she said, according to prepared remarks. Sohn cited pre-emption of restrictions on municipal broadband in Tennessee and North Carolina, the Connect America Fund Phase II commitment to pay $1.5 billion annually over the next six years, and the modernization of the Lifeline program as ways the FCC is making changes to keep up. During this change, the FCC wants to work with NATOA to remove barriers to broadband deployment, spur competition and ensure access for all, Sohn said. She said the future isn't in cable, but rather in broadband, which is good for citizens because it facilitates education, healthcare, economic empowerment, good government and civic participation. Rather than wait for incumbent ISPs to build the network cities want and need, Sohn said NATOA members can take control of their own broadband futures. This new model for local governments looks to benefit their citizens through externalities, not direct revenue, she said.
The California Broadband Council will discuss the state's first responder network, telehealth network and library system, and will get a tribal update at a meeting Tuesday, said the agenda. The council is made up of nine people and chaired by state Chief Information Officer Carlos Ramos. It was formed in 2010 to expand broadband deployment and eliminate the digital divide. The 9:30 a.m. meeting is at UC Riverside, 900 University Ave., Room 1113 INTS Building, Riverside, California.