agould's blog

The U.S. Department of Education is providing more opportunities for the public to share feedback and comments on the Higher Education Act Reauthorization, which was signed into law on August 14. According to the department's web site, two new hearings have been added to the schedule. In addition to the four listed previously, DOE officials are planning to meet with the public at the Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC on October 6 and Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, OH on October 15. These "negotiated rulemaking" sessions allow the public and key stakeholders to play a role in determining how to carry out the law Congress has passed.

On Friday, the Chronicle featured an article (Emergency Alerts via Facebook and MySpace are New Ways to Reach Students, 8/22/08) on how some campuses are looking for ways to use Facebook (FB) and MySpace as tools for transmitting emergency information. On the surface, this seems like a good idea. It would seem that almost every student nowadays is plugged into FB or MySpace, and young twenty-somethings are increasingly finding news about people, friends, and family with the social networking sites (myself being no exception).

This afternoon, EDUCAUSE held a Webcast featuring Terry Hartle, the Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at the American Council on Education. Hartle discussed the peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing provisions in the recently passed Higher Education Act (HEA) Reauthorization, which became law last week. An archive of the hour-long discussion is featured on the EDUCAUSE Connect web site, under the tab "HEA Webcast."

There are two P2P provisions included in the law. Section 485 relates to information that educational institutions must provide students, and section 487 relates to a program participation agreement, which includes certain requirements for combating infringement. For more information, please see EDUCAUSE's P2P page, which features specific details on these two provisions.

President Bush signed the Higher Education Act (HEA) Reauthorization into law on August 14. The legislation authorizes the creation of a National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies. The center would distribute grants to corporations, universities, and other groups that are developing technology solutions for classroom learning. However, though the Center was approved in an authorization bill, this does not mean it has received appropriations or funding.

The Associated Press is reporting that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) delivered a 3-2 decision against cable giant Comcast this morning.

The FCC ruled that the company violated federal policies on Internet openness when it blocked certain traffic from its subscribers. They ordered Comcast to change the way it manages its network, but stopped short of imposing fines.

Comcast continues to say that the FCC's Internet access policies are not law and are therefore, unenforceable.

This matter will most likely end up in the courts...

While many education groups were relieved to hear that Congress finally acted after six years and passed a conference report for the Higher Education Act Reauthorization, the White House could still complicate things.

According to CongressDaily, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel says President Bush is still undecided about signing the bill. Stanzel said the President needs time to look at the Conference Committee's modifications.

It is possible the Administration will hear from the National Governors Association (NGA) as it considers the bill. The NGA actively opposed the higher ed bill because it contained a provision that would require states to show they are maintaining the same level of funding. The group says this penalizes states, who would have to defend why they made a one-time increased funding allocation during times of surplus, but had to go back to previous funding levels in more challenging economic times.

Statement on FCC's Vote on Comcast's Network Management Practices:

"EDUCAUSE applauds the FCC for exercising its responsibility to ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible to all forms of legal content and applications.  Millions of students, teachers, scientists, doctors, entrepreneurs and educators depend upon having the freedom to transmit and receive information over the Internet without artificial constraints by providers of broadband circuits.  The Internet has become an essential and low-cost tool for learning and research.  We are pleased that the FCC has taken this step to ensure that the Internet serves the needs of the American public."

###

The Higher Education Act Reauthorization passed the Senate late last night by a vote of 83-8, with one Senator voting present. Earlier in the day, the House of Representatives had passed the same legislation. CongressDaily reports that President Bush is undecided as to whether or not he will sign the legislation into law. A Bush Administration official said they need more time to examine the changes the Conference Committee added to the final bill.

Tomorrow the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to hold a meeting to adopt an enforcement action against Comcast for violating the Commission's principles on an open and accessible Internet. In a preliminary vote last Friday, it was determined that at least three of the five commissioners will officially vote against the cable giant tomorrow.

The three commissioners voting against Comcast agree that the company violated federal rules by slowing certain kinds of Internet traffic, specifically peer-to-peer applications. It is believed that the FCC will demand that Comcast stop blocking or slowing traffic, but will probably not issue a fine. Last November, the FCC received a complaint stating that Comcast was deliberately blocking certain file-sharing services. Comcast, however, has said it did not violate any federal laws and moreover, the FCC does not have the authority to enforce its net neutrality principles. It is expected that Comcast will challenge the decision in court.

EDUCAUSE just learned that the House of Representatives approved the Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization this afternoon. Passing overwhelmingly by a vote of 380-49, the legislation is expected to receive Senate consideration later today.

For EDUCAUSE analysis on the peer-to-peer file sharing component of the bill, please click here.

The Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization is expected to receive full floor consideration today in Congress. In anticipation of that, EDUCAUSE has joined the American Council on Education and other organizations in sending a letter to lawmakers.

Here is the text:

As you prepare to vote on the conference report to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, I write on behalf of the associations listed below to share our perspectives on this important legislation.

EDUCAUSE is closely following developments in Congress as it continues its work on the Higher Education Act (HEA). Yesterday, a Conference Committee composed of House and Senate Members passed the latest overhaul in higher education law by a vote of 40-4. It is expected that the HEA, which will govern education policy for at least five years, will pass the full Congress on Thursday.

If the House and Senate pass the legislation this week, the Department of Education will then hold regional meetings, asking the public for feedback on how the new regulations should be implemented. EDUCAUSE will track this process and call on interested member institutions to provide feedback and play a role in this important matter.

HEA and Peer-to-Peer File Sharing (P2P).

Anna Patterson, who has sold search engine technology to Google, is introducing her own search engine- Cuil, pronounced "cool." Claiming to have an index of over 120 billion Web pages, Patterson says she believes her index covers three times the amount of pages covered by Google. For privacy advocates, there is something to like about Cuil. The engine will not be tracking users' search histories- a practice that has earned the ire of many privacy experts and regular citizens alike.

For more information, see this AP article.

As the temperatures rise in a typical Washington summer, so grows the pressure on some online advertising firms. 

Yesterday the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee held a hearing on the questionable methods for advertising currently being used by some Internet service providers (ISPs).  The hearing was entitled, “What Your Broadband Provider Knows About Your Web Use: Deep Packet Inspection and Communications Laws and Policies.”   Panelists included: Bob Dykes, the CEO for NebuAd, David Reed, an early Internet pioneer and professor at MIT, Alissa Cooper, the Chief Computer Scientist for the Center for Democracy and Technology, Scott Cleland, President of Precursor, LLC, and Bijan Sabet, a General Partner at Spark Capital. 

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Subcomittee and the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust task force questioned representatives from Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft about the proposed Google-Yahoo advertising partnership. (Google and Yahoo signed the agreement, which allows Google to assist with Yahoo's targeted ads, on June 12.) Both House and Senate members have expressed concerns about competition and consumer privacy issues. In Tuesday's hearings, they wanted to learn more about the deal by speaking directly with the players involved.

Microsoft attempted to enter into a partnership with Yahoo, but Google ultimately won approval from Yahoo's board. In testimony before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Microsoft senior Vice President and general counsel warned that the Google-Yahoo deal would result in Google dominating 90% of the online search advertising market. He said Google currently controls 70% of this market, while Yahoo has 20%.