NTIA Blog

Earlier this year, the Obama Administration released a comprehensive blueprint to improve consumers’ privacy protections in the information age and promote the continued growth of the digital economy. The White House requested that NTIA convene interested stakeholders -- including companies, privacy advocates, consumer groups, and technology experts -- to develop enforceable codes of conduct that specify how the principles in the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights apply in specific business contexts. NTIA then asked for your input on what issues should be addressed through the privacy multistakeholder process and how to structure these discussions so they are open, transparent, and consensus-based.

Based on input from a broad range of stakeholders, we are today announcing that the first topic for the privacy multistakeholder process will be: Providing transparency in how consumer data is handled by mobile applications. On July 12, NTIA will convene the first meeting for stakeholders to begin developing a code of conduct that applies the Transparency principle in the Consumer Bill of Rights to mobile apps.

We proposed this as an initial topic because it is a privacy challenge that affects many consumers yet is discrete enough to be addressed in a reasonable period of time. Many of you agreed. We expect the stakeholder experience in developing a code of conduct on this topic will inform future efforts to develop codes that address other privacy issues.

The deadline for analog low-power television stations and translator stations to apply for a federal grant to cover digital upgrade costs is fast approaching. The last day that NTIA can accept grant applications under the Digital Upgrade Program is July 2.

While all full-power television stations in the United States had to upgrade to digital broadcasting in 2009, thousands of analog low-power television stations and translator stations have until 2015 to make the transition. 

The Digital Upgrade Program provides reimbursements of up to $20,000 to analog low-power stations in eligible rural communities that have completed the transition and are now broadcasting digital signals. Eligible stations include Class A stations, low-power television stations, as well as translator and booster stations. 

NTIA currently has $22 million available for Digital Upgrade Program awards. More than 1,000 low-power stations have already received funding.

But NTIA’s authority for the program will expire on September 30.  In order to process all applications by that deadline, NTIA must receive all applications by 5 p.m. on July 2.

You can get more Information about the Digital Upgrade Program, including information on station and community eligibility, eligible costs and application forms, at www.ntia.doc.gov/lptv. You can also email questions to lptv@ntia.doc.gov or call (202) 482-1199.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a Community Broadband Summit held by the District of Columbia to explore the many ways that broadband drives economic growth, spurs community development and opens up new possibilities in jobs, education, healthcare and other areas.

A high-speed Internet connection and digital literacy skills can provide access to up-to-date job listings and new career paths, to specialized online classes and advanced educational content, to valuable healthcare resources and cutting-edge medical expertise. But even in the nation’s capital, there are still too many residents cut off from these opportunities because they are not online.

The D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer, or OCTO, which hosted the recent summit, is working to close this divide. And it is the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, or BTOP, a Recovery Act program administered by NTIA, that makes OCTO’s digital inclusion work possible.

The District of Columbia is one of the few BTOP grantees across the country administering grant projects in all three categories of the program: network infrastructure, public computing centers and sustainable broadband adoption projects.

Earlier this year I participated in the 2012 World     Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12), where policymakers negotiated changes to the international treaty that governs the use of radiofrequency spectrum.  This conference is convened every three to four years to ensure the treaty, called the Radio Regulations, keeps up with the rapid pace of technological development in radiocommunications.  

Spectrum is the lifeblood of mobile communications, from the smartphones we carry to the radar and GPS systems used to guide aircraft.  Because radio waves don’t stop at a nation’s borders, international agreements are necessary to ensure that spectrum-dependent devices can operate without causing harmful interference to one another.  That’s where the Radio Regulations come in.  Additionally, harmonized spectrum – essentially, radiofrequencies that multiple countries use in the same way – makes it more likely we can use the same devices in many different countries and therefore makes devices more affordable.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a symposium at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab that highlighted the benefits that a new high-speed broadband network will bring to schools, libraries, healthcare institutions, public safety facilities and other community “anchors” across the state of Maryland.

Thanks to the Recovery Act, the Maryland Department of Information Technology is overseeing a $115 million grant from NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to build a statewide network that plans to deliver affordable broadband to every one of Maryland’s 24 counties and connect more than 1,000 anchor institutions.

The project – called the One Maryland Broadband Network – is putting down nearly 1,300 miles of new fiber and linking more than 2,400 miles of existing fiber. It will extend and connect three separate systems: the state-run networkMaryland, which was established for public sector use; the nine-jurisdiction Inter-County Broadband Network, which connects government buildings and other anchors across Central Maryland; and a non-profit consortium of rural carriers called Maryland Broadband Cooperative.

When it’s done in late 2013, the One Maryland Broadband Network will supply core infrastructure that local carriers can use to deploy broadband to almost 2 million homes and more than 400,000 businesses, including those in 15 rural counties in Western and Southern Maryland and on the state’s Eastern Shore. The new network will also deliver connections of up to 10 gigabits per second to anchor institutions.

In today’s wireless world, the demand for spectrum from consumers, businesses, and federal users continues to grow at a rapid rate.  In response to this growing demand, in June 2010, President Obama directed the Department of Commerce, working through NTIA, to collaborate with the FCC to make available an additional 500 megahertz of spectrum over the next decade for commercial wireless broadband use.

Today, NTIA took the next step towards meeting President Obama’s goal by announcing that the 1755-1850 megahertz band --95 megahertz of prime spectrum -- could be repurposed for wireless broadband use.  Given the growing demand for spectrum by both industry and the federal agencies, it is increasingly difficult to find desirable spectrum that can be vacated by federal users as well as spectrum in which to relocate these federal users.  Because of these challenges, including the scarcity of spectrum, the complexity of federal operations, and the time and cost of relocating federal users, NTIA is proposing a new path forward for spectrum repurposing that relies on a combination of relocating federal users and sharing spectrum between federal agencies and commercial users.

A dozen years ago, a group of technology officials in the neighboring Wisconsin cities of Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls began meeting to share ideas on how to prepare their computer systems for Y2K. The group included officials from the city and county governments, local school districts, community libraries and medical institutions. And while Y2K came and went without incident, it soon became clear that the collaboration had the potential to turn into something much bigger.

Today, that group – called the Chippewa Valley Inter-networking Consortium, or CINC – operates an extensive broadband network that connects 150 schools, libraries, hospitals, clinics, technical colleges and university campuses across the Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls region. And now, the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program is expanding that original “community area network” and replicating its success in three other Wisconsin communities that see CINC as a model for establishing a 21st Century communications infrastructure.

Building Community Capacity through Broadband, or BCCB, is using $30 million in Recovery Act funding to lay down more than 600 miles of fiber that will extend the network in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls and create new community area networks in Platteville, Wausau and Superior. The public-private project is being spearheaded by the University of Wisconsin-Extension program, but has many partners, including dozens of local governments and school districts.

Last week, over 350 representatives from public safety organizations, Federal agencies, industry and academia converged in Broomfield, Colorado to learn about the latest developments in public safety broadband technologies.  The conference was sponsored by the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program, a joint effort between NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) research laboratory and NIST's Office of Law Enforcement Standards.  Public safety workers have long been hampered by incompatible communications, and the PSCR program is working with the public safety community and industry to address this critical issue through research, testing, evaluation, and standards development on behalf of its Federal agency sponsors at the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice.

The conference was timely because just last month President Obama signed legislation to create a much-needed nationwide interoperable broadband network that will help police, firefighters, emergency medical service professionals and other public safety officials stay safe and do their jobs.

Just over a year ago, we unveiled the National Broadband Map – an unprecedented, interactive map that shows what high-speed Internet services are available in the United States. Powered by a searchable database of more than 20 million records, the map is the most extensive set of U.S. broadband availability data ever published. Our partners in the states collect new data every six months from nearly 1,800 broadband providers nationwide. Just as we did last September, today we are again updating the map with the latest information.

The map has proven a valuable tool to a wide range of stakeholders, including consumers, researchers, policymakers, local planning officials, and application developers. Broadband drives economic growth and innovation – including advances in health care, education, and public safety – so data on America’s broadband capabilities is of increasing importance, especially as we work to close the digital divide.

Last week the Obama Administration unveiled a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, part of a comprehensive blueprint to improve consumers’ privacy protections in the information age and promote the continued growth of the digital economy. These rights enumerate the specific protections that consumers should expect from companies that handle personal data, and set expectations for the companies that use personal data. While the Administration will work with Congress to enact legislation based on these rights, we are moving forward now to put these principles into practice.

At the request of the White House, NTIA will soon begin convening interested stakeholders -- including companies, privacy advocates, consumer groups, and technology experts -- to develop and implement enforceable codes of conduct that specify how the principles in the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights apply in specific business contexts.

But first we want your input. We are seeking your views on what issues should be addressed through the privacy multistakeholder process and how to structure these discussions so they are open, transparent, and most productive.