With all the hubbub surround recent mergers and acquisitions, we over at New America felt we should get into the game. While we can't afford the whole company, we have managed to get an employee. Here's the release that's going out widely today...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 7, 2008

Contact: Jerry Irvine, (301) 801-3356, irvine@newamerica.net
Google CEO Eric Schmidt Appointed as Chairman of New America Foundation's Board of Directors

(Washington, D.C., February 7, 2008)- The New America Foundation, a nonpartisan ten-year-old think tank headquartered in Washington D.C., announced today the appointment of Dr. Eric Schmidt, the chairman and chief executive of Google, Inc., as the new chairman of New America's Board of Directors.

Dr. Schmidt, who has been a member of the New America board since the policy institute's founding, will succeed James Fallows, the author and national correspondent of the Atlantic. Fallows will remain on New America's board after the transition, which will take place on June 1st; Fallows was New America's founding board chairman.

"New America is a place where first-rate scholars are producing concrete, creative solutions for some of our nation's biggest challenges," said Dr. Schmidt. "I'm proud to be associated with the Foundation and look forward to helping shape its work and future."

"New America's influence and excellence over this last decade exceed what any of its founders could reasonably have expected," said Fallows. "We couldn't be more fortunate than to have Eric Schmidt devote some of his time, intelligence, and public-mindedness to New America's next stage of growth."

Dr. Schmidt's election to the chairmanship coincides with the arrival at New America of a new president and chief executive, the journalist Steve Coll, a staff writer at The New Yorker and former managing editor of the Washington Post who has twice received the Pulitzer Prize. Coll succeeded New America founder Ted Halstead last September; Halstead remains a New America board member.

"New America's success has been built on innovation and the search for promising new voices in scholarship, policy and journalism," Coll said. "Building cultures of innovation and seizing on breakthrough ideas has been the hallmark of Eric Schmidt's extraordinary career in Silicon Valley, and most recently at Google. New America has long benefited from Eric's counsel and support, and everyone here is delighted about his new role, which will strengthen the Foundation immeasurably in the years ahead."

One of New America's priorities during the next several years, Coll said, is to evolve toward a "digital think tank" model that will use new technologies to improve the Foundation's reach; to generate innovative research and develop new ideas; and to create networks of expertise around the most important issues facing the United States in domestic and international policy arenas.

"New America has experienced tremendous growth and success by trying to work outside of the traditional think tank categories and boundaries," Coll said. "We remain focused on our investments in great people, great ideas, and great scholarship and journalism, but we are searching for new ways in which our scholars and researchers can make themselves heard, and make a difference in national life - and we think new technology can be an important part of these ambitions."

"Generating ideas about public policy is still a very traditional business," said Fareed Zakaria, the author and editor of Newsweek International, and a New America board member. "Eric brings high intelligence and erudition, of course, but also a fresh perspective and focus on innovation that will be extremely valuable."

Dr. Schmidt earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Princeton University and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. He rose to become Chief Technology Officer at Sun Microsystems, from where he was recruited to become Chairman and Chief Executive of Novell. He became Chairman and Chief Executive of Google in 2001.

Working with founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Dr. Schmidt has helped Google to become one of the world's most important companies - an innovator in Internet strategy, technology and corporate culture.

The New America Foundation is a nonprofit public policy institute whose purpose is to bring exceptionally promising new voices and new ideas to the fore of American public discourse. Relying upon a venture capital approach, the Foundation invests in outstanding individuals and policy solutions that transcend the conventional political spectrum. Headquartered in Washington D.C., New America also has offices in California.

The Foundation has made a significant impact on a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues since its inception in 1998. With about 100 staff and Fellows and an annual budget of $13.5 million, New America has twelve domestic and foreign policy programs, in addition to a Fellows Program and a California Program.

To arrange an interview and for more information, please call Jerry Irvine at (301) 801-3356 or e-mail irvine@newamerica.net, and visit www.newamerica.net.

You can tune into a live broadcast of The Future of Municipal Wireless streaming live from the New America Foundation here in Washington, DC. We will also be using a live web chat for remote viewers so that you will be able to ask questions and comment on the proceedings.

Discussion will focus on alternative municipal wireless business models that have proven successful (both in the US and overseas) in delivering affordable (often free) broadband to their local communities. There's a lot to be learned from the panel of experts -- participants include:

The Honorable Mike Doyle (D-PA)
Vice Chairman, Subcommitee on Telecommunications, House Commerce Committee
U.S. House of Representatives

Joshua Breitbart
Principal and Co-Founder
Ethos Wireless

Jonathan Baltuch
President
MRI

Aaron Kaplan
Director
FunkFeuer (Austria)

Jon Peha
Associate Director of the Center for Wireless and Broadband Networking
Carnegie-Mellon University

Richard MacKinnon
Founder and President
Austin Wireless City Project

Sascha D. Meinrath
Research Director, Wireless Future Program
New America Foundation

Here in DC we've been busy getting a new paper out the door. Focusing on the legal and regulatory precedents for allowing foreign attachments on wireline networks (e.g., answering machines, computer modems, etc.) -- this analysis supports the notion that wireline and wireless phone systems should both be open. Currently, cell phone companies engage in all sorts of behaviors to limit what devices can be used on their networks.

We just hosted the Free My Phone event earlier this week in the Russell Senate Building -- alas, while the video looks great, the audio channel didn't work (so unless you're a fantastic lip reader, it's not of much use). Which is a shame since the event brought together some fairly interesting folks:

• Commissioner Michael Copps
  Federal Communications Commission

• Walt Mossberg
  Personal Technology Columnist, Wall Street Journal

• Stephen Wildstrom
  Personal Technology Columnist, Business Week

• Tony Lewis
  Vice President - Open Development Initiative, Verizon Wireless

• Blair Levin
  Managing Director, Stifel Nicolaus

• Christopher Libertelli
  Senior Director - Regulatory and Government Affairs, Skype

• Robert Frieden
  University of Pennsylvania Law School

• Michael Calabrese
  Director, Wireless Future Program, New America Foundation

And managed to garner some good press in places like Consumer Affairs, CNet News, and PC World.

Meanwhile, here's the official press release that we sent out today.

Dear Colleagues,

This week, the New America Foundation/Wireless Future Program released a new working paper, Wireless Carterfone: A Long Overdue Policy Promoting Consumer Choice and Competition, by Rob Frieden of Penn State University.

Currently, wireless carriers can restrict the phones and other devices consumers can use on their network, what device features they can access, and what software applications and content they can download. Carriers lock subscribers into two-year service contracts, often bundling the service with carrier-subsidized handsets that include restrictive terms of service designed to limit access to web-based aps and content that compete with the carriers or their affiliates. This "locking and blocking" has been prohibited in relation to traditional wireline telephone service since the 1968 Carterfone decision by the FCC gave consumers the right to purchase their choice of equipment and to connect any telephone or safe device without carrier-imposed limitations.

The paper demonstrates that the FCC has ample statutory authority to apply Carterfone consumer choice regulation to wireless carriers -- and that the FCC has already extended Carterfone principles to other technologies and services. The Commission has undertaken several initiatives to protect consumers from similar mandatory bundling arrangements, including its 2005 order mandating alternatives to cable set-top box leasing. Similar unbundling arrangements have been applied to the wireless market, including requiring wireless carriers to provide consumers with local number portability and the establishment of an “Open Platform” requirement for a 22 MHz block of spectrum in the 700 MHz spectrum auction that begins this week. These examples underscore the importance of Carterfone as a universal precedent for promoting consumer choice and protecting the public interest.

The working paper can be found "here. More information on this issue is available free at www.spectrumpolicy.org. Also, please call Erin Drankoski at 202-997-8727 or email Drankoski@newamerica.net for more information about New America’s experts on this issue.

---

New America’s Wireless Future Program develops and advocates policy proposals aimed at achieving universal and affordable wireless broadband access, expanding public access to the airwaves and updating our nation’s communications infrastructure in the digital era. For more information, visit www.spectrumpolicy.org.

About the New America Foundation:

The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, post-partisan public policy institute whose purpose is to bring exceptionally promising new voices and new ideas to the fore of our nation's public discourse. Relying on a venture capital approach, the Foundation invests in outstanding individuals and policy solutions that transcend the conventional political spectrum. Headquartered in our nation's capital, New America also has offices in California and New York. More information is available at www.newamerica.net.

The New America Foundation released the following media alert commenting on Verizon's so-called "any app, any device" plan:

Media Alert

November 27, 2007

Verizon "Any Device" Plan a Positive Step, But Details and Full Consumer Choice Still Needed

WASHINGTON - New America Foundation's Wireless Future Program offered qualified praise for this morning's announcement that Verizon Wireless will allow its customers to use any device it certifies on its wireless networks.

"Verizon's plan is a positive step, but FCC Chairman Martin and the other commissioners deserve the credit for making consumer choice a condition on the TV band spectrum licenses that will be auctioned early next year," said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program. "This appears to be a move to head off market entry and new wireless competition from Google and other Internet companies that would result if the incumbent carriers were unwilling to meet minimal FCC consumer choice requirements."

"It remains to be seen whether the pricing and other details will in fact give consumers the same choice of devices and applications that they have on wireline Internet connections," said Sascha Meinrath, research director of the Wireless Future Program. "It is not enough to simply claim support for 'any' application and device. Verizon plans to certify equipment themselves; by definition this means that they will not let certain devices on their network. This and other inconsistencies leave me deeply concerned."

"Verizon's announcement is an acknowledgment that the carriers' business models can accommodate more openness, but the extent of this openness is not yet clear. We believe the FCC should still provide regulatory certainty that the FCC's Carterfone consumer choice rules apply equally to wired and wireless services," stated Mr. Calabrese.

For background on the Wireless consumer choice issue, see this New America paper by Columbia Law Professor Tim Wu:

http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/wireless_net_neutrality

Additional background is available at www.newamerica.net/wireless_future.

CONTACT:

Michael Calabrese
Sascha D. Meinrath
202-986-2700

I've been mired in a pitched battle between the public interest (to allow the general public to use unlicensed devices on unused TV frequencies) and the National Association of Broadcasters and various massive corporations (who have launched a FUD campaign of epic proportions here in the nation's capital). Just today I learned that NAB and its allies have taken out full-page adds in various press going out to congressional offices claiming that these technologies will destroy TV as we know it. If this claim sounds familiar, it's because it was the same claim used to fight low power FM radio -- a claim that has since been proven to have been a lie.

Here's the latest:

Today the New America Foundation, Media Access Project and leading spectrum engineers filed Reply Comments at the FCC (Docket 04-186) with further evidence demonstrating the feasibility of "smart radio" technology that allows low-power broadband devices to detect and utilize vacant TV channels without causing harmful interference to TV viewers. The FCC is currently completing a rulemaking that could open unused TV band "white space" for unlicensed access.

Broadcasters and wireless microphone makers, which currently utilize less than half of the frequencies reserved exclusively for their industries, have tried to distort a recent FCC report that tested initial prototype devices submitted by Philips Electronics and Microsoft. Today's filing adds both new measurements and a critique of the broadcaster/microphone lobby claims.

"There is no longer any doubt about the feasibility of mobile, low-power devices to detect-and-avoid channels occupied by licensed TV channels or wireless microphone systems," said Michael Calabrese, director of New America's Wireless Future Program. "The remaining challenge for the FCC is to define explicit operating rules to govern device certification, so that America's high-tech industries can embark on the R&D necessary to bring compliant consumer devices to market."

The Reply Comments include the following major points:

* Measurements at the University of Kansas spectrum labs shows that both DTV channels and low-power broadband devices can operate in three consecutive channels with no harmful interference.

* Since the vast majority of wireless microphones are themselves unlicensed devices - and have been using vacant TV channels illegally, yet without complaints of interference - the FCC should offer them no further protection than NAF et al.'s proposal to allow sports, theater, concert and other venues to bar, or require patrons to turn off, mobile broadband devices during their events.

* Although the FCC labs found that White Space devices can operate as close as 2 meters from a DTV without causing interference, the Commission should follow the approach it has used for personal computers and other unlicensed emissions - and assume that at distances less than 10-to-20 meters, consumers can take self-help to remedy interference from a mobile device.

* The broadcast lobby (MSTV/NAB) submitted interference measurements, concerning the ability of devices to detect weak TV signals, that are clearly unreliable and erroneous.

* The Commission should reject the overly conservative detection threshold for weak TV signals proposed by the high-technology White Spaces Coalition (Microsoft, Philips, Dell, Google, et al.) since prohibiting the access to channels with signals from distant TV markets would protect few viewers, but deprive all Americans of broadband services.

Today's filing builds on NAF et al.'s initial Comments, filed August 15, on the FCC/OET Report.

New America's Wireless Future Program develops and advocates policy proposals aimed at achieving universal and affordable wireless broadband access, expanding public access to the airwaves and updating our nation's communications infrastructure in the digital era. For more information, visit www.spectrumpolicy.org.