Telecommunications Archives

The smartphone's rise in overseas markets is a "key development" that the State Department is watching over the next year, an adviser said Tuesday, signaling the agency's interest in using mobile technology to advance foreign policy goals.

The deployment of 3G and 4G mobile networks will enable more people to connect to the Internet at the same time and "up the stakes politically," said Ben Scott, Policy Advisor for Innovation at the Office of the Secretary of State. Mobile broadband penetration in the Middle East and Africa has lagged behind basic cellphone use. How international networks grow over the next 12 to 18 months will be monitored closely, said Scott. With that expansion, "there is going to be a whole lot more money on the table for pushing policies for attracting investment," he said.

Scott spoke at a panel discussion on the flow of Internet information hosted by Media Access Project, a Washington-based public interest law firm. His statement is the latest indication of State's push to leverage mobile technology to influence the political message in unsettled regions.

Using smartphones, activists can access Twitter and transmit photographs to the Internet. "Anyone with a smartphone can become a citizen reporter," he said.

State is also looking to use mobile channels to spread messages to stabilize regions. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, will fund programs that can "develop SMS messaging and other cell phone initiatives" for "countering extremist voices," it indicated in a grant document in November 2011.

It was reported last year that the State Department and Pentagon had spent at least $50 million on building an independent cellphone network inside Afghanistan. The network, created with towers on military bases, was set up to keep the Internet up even if official services were disabled.

State also has quietly supported the development of a phone app in which protesters can trigger a "panic button" that will delete all their contacts and transmit alerts to activists.

In just over the last three years, State would have spent about $70 million to promote free access to the Internet.

"The Internet is politically agnostic. It allows people to realize their desires whatever they may be," said Scott, "To me, that's the bedrock of Internet freedom -- and why it poses both vulnerabilities and opportunities for every government in the world, including ours."

There's a great little piece in National Journal today on NASA astronaut Mark Kelly interrupting an interview with a reporter to take a phone call from his twin brother, Scott, who is serving as a commander aboard the International Space Station.

It included this nugget from Mark Kelly about additional forms of communication with astronauts in mid-mission:

"Sometimes [astronauts on the space station] have Internet access, though it's very slow. Normally, when you send them an e-mail, it just sits over at Mission Control for a couple hours before they sync up the Outlook mailbox on the Station."

The Transportation Department is examining technology that could potentially block people from using cell phones while driving.

In a discussion Tuesday on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in response to the growing number of deaths and injuries related to distracted driving that "there's a lot of technology out there now that can disable phones and we're looking at that."

While cell phones jammers are banned, technology from companies such as Zoomsafer, tXtBlocker and iZup could be used to disable a phone when a vehicle exceeds a certain speed, according to the MSNBC report.

But Paul Atchley, a scientist at the University of Kansas told MSNBC that those programs often do not work and consumers can find loopholes.

Many states prohibit either talking on a cell phone or texting while driving. In 2008 nearly 20 percent of all crashes in the U.S. involved some type of distraction and nearly 6,000 people died from crashes involving a distracted driver, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The Defense Department awarded Defense Communications Systems, Southwest Asia (Army) in Fort Belvoir, Va., its highest honor for achievement in information management and technology.

In a news release about the winners of the 2010 DoD chief information officer awards, Defense said more than 70 nominations were submitted and the winners were selected based on their "exemplary performance in improving information delivery and dissemination, management capability, cost reduction and savings, a broad user base, process, mission impact, and net-centricity."

The other award winners were:

Second Place: Collaboration Support and Information Division, U.S. Joint Forces Command, Norfolk, Va.
Third Place: Office of the Chief Information Officer, Joint Staff, Washington, D.C.
Fourth Place: Defense Information Systems Agency, Falls Church, Va.
Fifth Place: Apps for the Army (A4A) Challenge Team, Washington, D.C.

And individual awards were presented to:
First Place (Tied): Lt. Cmdr. James Gateau, U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany; and Jack Summers, Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md.
Second Place: Lee James, U.S. Army Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC), Radio Frequency-In Transit Visibility (RF-ITV), Fort Belvoir, Va.

The General Services Administration has contracted with AT&T to develop and manage telepresence centers at 11 federal buildings across the country, enabling agencies to hold virtual meetings.

The centers, scheduled to be operational early next year, are designed to help agencies cut down on travel costs by facilitating face to face meetings online. They will be built at each of GSA's 11 regional headquarters offices, which are located in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Fort Worth, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Four other Washington-area buildings also will get centers.

AT&T will develop and oversee the network of centers via an $18 million task order under GSA's Networx contract.

Here's the full announcement from GSA:

Oct. 25, 2010

GSA Moves to Establish Telepresence Centers for Government Use

Virtual meetings help federal agencies meet sustainability and cost-cutting goals.

WASHINGTON - In a significant step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and saving federal travel dollars, the U.S. General Services Administration announced today it will establish virtual meeting centers at federal buildings across the United States. When operational in early 2011, the centers will be available for use by all federal agencies at a fixed hourly rate, making it easy for federal employees to conduct important face-to-face meetings without the need to travel. The centers will also be made available to stateside military families so that they can meet virtually with service members overseas.

"As the federal government's workplace solutions expert, GSA is exploring new ways to create a more efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable government for the American people," said GSA Administrator Martha N. Johnson. "This includes incorporating innovative and collaborative technologies like virtual meeting centers to create seamless connections around the world. Availability of virtual meeting technology will help launch our government to the next level of productivity."

The centers will be built at each of GSA's 11 regional headquarters offices in federal buildings in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Fort Worth, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., as well as four headquarters locations in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. The centers will be specially constructed and equipped to provide live, face-to-face, immersive meeting experiences to all participants across the network. Each room will contain high-definition video and advanced audio equipment, as well as state of the art collaboration tools to enhance the immersive experience and facilitate participant productivity. The network will allow any subscribing agency to meet with counterparts in any of these cities as well as with counterparts in other telepresence-type networks nationally and internationally.

AT&T will develop and manage the virtual network through an estimated $18 million task order under GSA's Networx Enterprise contract. The contractor's infrastructure costs will be rolled into a set hourly rate that is then purchased by GSA and customer agencies in a "pay as you go" model, avoiding the need for individual agency start up costs. Once the network is operational, agencies will be able to order and schedule virtual meeting sessions through a secure web-based portal as well as through a valet that will be available around the clock.

Looking to leave a voicemail for a member of Congress? Good luck.

Many members of Congress, are experiencing malfunctioning voicemail systems, Congress.org reports.

It is believed the problem is the result of a switch to a new voicemail system. At least 20 offices have experienced problems since the switch to the new system, called Waston Messaging, began Monday, Congress.org reported.

For example, those who called Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., after office hours heard a robotic voice saying, "you've reached the voice mailbox for Kerryack . . . I'm sorry but that mailbox is full." The site reported the same thing happened for Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who was identified as "Udallack."

At some other offices all callers got was a busy signal, and at others no voicemail system at all picked up. According to Congress.org, staff also reported having trouble transferring calls to other staff voice mailboxes.

State Department Policy Planning staff official Jared Cohen announced this week that he would be leaving the administration to head a new "think/do tank" at Google, a move that cements the growing link between Silicon Valley and the State Department.

"I view my departure from government not as a farewell, but as a continuation of the friendships, partnerships, and collaborations that I have been so fortunate to enjoy in the past four years," he wrote in his parting e-mail to State colleagues.

In his four years at State, Cohen has been a vocal advocate for "21st century statecraft." That's the department's all-time buzzword for the use of social media and telecommunications to promote diplomacy and development abroad. Cohen has staged meet-ups between bureaucrats and tech heavyweights such as Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt. He's recognized as the guy who asked Jack Dorsey, Twitter's chairman, to delay site maintenance that would bring the social media network down at the same time as the Iranian postelection protests last year. In an interview with Foreign Policy, Cohen said that spreading the message went hand-in-hand with spreading the medium:

The first [misconception] is that the technology side of 21st-century statecraft is just about State Department officials using Twitter and blogging more -- in other words, that embracing technology is just about more effectively and innovatively communicating and advocating our policy. I think about technology being used as a tool to empower citizens, to promote greater accountability and transparency, to do capacity building.

But adopting privately developed technologies as a vector for public diplomacy can be controversial, a New York Times Magazine article has pointed out.

This new marriage of Silicon Valley and the State Department can, at times, seem almost giddy in its tech evangelism. While it's hard to argue with the merits of helping nongovernmental organizations communicate with one another, there's a danger that close collaboration between the government and the tech world will be read as favoritism or quid pro quo. Anne-Marie Slaughter, director of the policy planning staff, acknowledged as much: "So Google sits here, and Microsoft and Twitter and Facebook, but for all those household names, there are others -- and what are the guidelines to make sure that you're being evenhanded, as government has to be?"

Cohen argues that opening State's doors to the private sector is vital. As he said to Foreign Policy, he can now pursue things that he couldn't do within the federal government.

The big thing is the resources and the capabilities. There are not a couple hundred [computer] engineers in the State Department that can build things; that's just not what government does. You don't necessarily have some of the financial resources to put behind these things. It's really hard to bring talented young people in; there are not a lot mechanisms to do it. On some topics, it's very sensitive for government to be the one doing this.

State Department officials, following the United Nations' lead, now are accepting donations via text message to help support recovery and reconstruction in Pakistan where floods have displaced about 20 million people and spread deadly waterborne diseases.

Punching the word "FLOOD" to 27722 will automatically donate $10 to the U.S. government's new Pakistan relief fund.

Earlier in the month, the UN Refugee Agency partnered with mGive, a mobile donations provider, to allow Americans to make $10 mobile contributions by texting "SWAT" to 50555. State began promoting the effort on Aug. 2 and then created its own mobile-enabled charity late last week.

mGive processed more than $37 million for Haiti during three weeks earlier this year, after the State Department requested help in aiding the earthquake-devastated country.

The BlackBerry seems to be the accessory of choice in Washington. In bars, offices, the gym, you name it, you're likely to see more than a few of these gadgets. But could other smart phones catch up, even in the federal government?

In a Sunday Washington Post article, Michael S. Rosenwald points out that times may be changing for federal employees.

According to the article, the Washington metro area is the nation's eighth largest but ranks fourth in BlackBerry usage, and the devices often are required accessories for feds and anyone working with them. However, says Rosenwald, with President Obama's open government directive and the rapidly increasing number of apps, the iPhone soon may catch up.

For example, the Army, the Health and Human Services Department and the Defense Advanced Research Agency Projects Agency, the Pentagon's tech research arm, all have hosted app development contests. Apps for the Army drew far more entrants for iPhones and Androids than for BlackBerry devices.

Rosenwald cites figures showing that Hill staffers lean heavily toward Blackberrys -- 9,140 to the iPhone's 86 users. But what about in federal agencies? What will it take for you and your coworkers to shift away from the email- and work-focused BlackBerry toward the sexier, lifestyle-friendly iPhone or Android? Is "there's an app for that" enough?

Full disclosure: I'm a die-hard iPhone user.

A legal battle looms on the horizon after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski released plans today on how the agency would fight to restore regulatory powers over the Internet.

His statement follows the D.C. Circuit's Comcast v. FCC ruling last month, which stated that the commission did not have the authority to stop Comcast from interfering and discriminating against its subscribers' use of peer-to-peer networking, or file-sharing between networks, without the need of a server.

The agency hopes to overturn the ruling, which chips away at the authority that it needs to extend broadband nationwide. "The goal is to restore the broadly supported status quo consensus that existed prior to the court decision," Genachowski stated.

• The agency could rely on provisions in the current Communications Act to try to roll out the National Broadband Plan, but this approach has "serious risk of failure in court [and] the concern is that this path would lead the commission straight back to its current situation," Genachowski said.
• Alternatively, it could decide to reclassify broadband services as a telecommunications service. Right now, broadband is considered an information service and not subject to regulation. But this could "subject the providers of broadband communications services to extensive regulations ill-suited to broadband," Genachowski noted.

FCC has decided to go with what it calls "the third way," where it will view the transmission component of broadband access as a telecommunications service, while continuing to treat the rest of it as an information service.

Genachowski has urged his colleagues to seek public comments on this approach. The agency's commissioners, Michael Copps, as well as Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker have stepped into the debate.

More details of this legal route can be found in a statement from General Counsel Austin Schlick.