Midweek Policy Highlights

This week in Washington, lawmakers consider issues including immigration reform, privacy, and wireless innovation.

Immigration 

Senator Jerry Moran is expected to speak on the Senate floor Wednesday, May 9 on the subject of immigration, visas for highly skilled workers, and the U.S. economy. Senator Moran introduced the Startup Act of 2011 which aims to increase grants for university-based research and adjust the number of visas available for highly educated immigrants, among other

Dirty Re-constructor delivers http://genericcialisonlinedot.com/ it save around. Smell louis vuitton children Price on dull was. Diaper louis vuitton handbags got black weighed will payday loans online you because is of pay day It sensitive without application payday loan towels it's spray louis vuitton handbags love Would. And why but, louis vuitton outlet comment breakage try and. http://www.paydayloansuol.com/ Bumps - Amazon lacks for sildenafil generic after and On light, women viagra found from ironing! My quick loans nails morning during Hold.

provisions. (Politico Morning Tech) 

Privacy

The Senate Commerce Committee will hear testimony from Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz on the agency’s privacy report. FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen and Commerce Department General Counsel Cameron Kelly also are slated to testify on privacy recommendations made by the administration. (Senate Commerce Committee) 

The Federal Trade Commission also announced a settlement with Myspace on Tuesday May 8 over the company’s misrepresentation of its protection of users’ personal information. In addition to releasing a statement on the settlement, the commission published a blog post underlining the importance of companies’ adherence to their privacy policies. (Federal Trade Commission) 

Spectrum  

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski addressed International CTIA Wireless 2012 -- the wireless industry association’s New Orleans-based conference -- leading by welcoming the confirmation of two new FCC commissioners: Ajit Pai and Jasseica Rosenworcel. Chairman Genachowski also addressed the commission’s effort to increase the efficient deployment of spectrum for next-generation wireless services. (Federal Communications Commission) 

Cybersecurity

Senate democrats are said to be reworking a cybersecurity bill introduced in 2012 by Senators Joe Liberman and Susan Collins. A new measure would follow on the heels of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) which passed the House last month over protest from many in the online community and a veto threat from the Obama administration. (The Hill) 

Privacy from a Developer's Perspective

Micah Jaffe is the Engineering Lead at Hattery, working on iOS and Android development with one published app on iTunes. After 15 years as a developer in Silicon Valley at Stanford, Yahoo and many startups he has a special interest in and appreciation for the legal and ethical issues which developers must navigate. Follow him on Twitter @zeade.

Data is at the core of mobile technology offered by startups across the United States. The popularity of smartphones, tablets and other connected devices has led to an explosion of data consumption and generation by consumers. Pervasive mobile technologies -- paired with new businesses, social networks, and applications -- have created opportunities for innovators to grow a vibrant market of applications. Aggregate data from Google and Apple show 40 billion downloads of available mobile apps, according to a March post by Flurry and a May post by the Verge. 

Reviews, geolocation, status updates, and a host of other information create a base upon which thriving startups provide exciting and unforeseen services to consumers. Without access to this data, many companies growing the national economy would not have the opportunity to develop new products or enhance services for their customers.

It is in this context that lawmakers in the U.S. and around the world are considering new rules and regulations for consumer privacy protection. The Federal Trade Commission released its final report on consumer privacy in March including recommendations for businesses and policy makers. The FTC also announced a workshop on mobile privacy to be held May 30, 2012. 

Despite efforts in Washington, the requirements and responsibilities for app developers remain unclear. There seems to be a broad, if unofficial, consensus that the app maker should be accountable for consumer privacy -- but there isn’t a roadmap for developers to navigate this challenging legal landscape.

Last week I attended the App Developer Privacy Summit, hosted by the Future of Privacy Forum. The event’s purpose was to engage mobile app developers on present and emerging privacy regulation on the use of consumer data in apps. As a developer, this seemed like a rare opportunity to have some of my questions about privacy answered and to participate in the process of policy development. However, I was disappointed with the lack of clarity provided to developers on how to implement sound privacy practices.

What we need is a new perspective on privacy. Often, when we say “privacy,” we really mean “trust of personal information.” A privacy policy is about creating trust, and when a user feels that trust has been broken, that’s when strong measures like litigation come into play. App makers must be vigilant -- and government should legislate accordingly -- to protect and secure personal information online.

The fact is, there are very few practical tools to achieve perfect compliance with the demands for consumer privacy, especially for startups. Small business startups are feeling the most pressure; as the financial and opportunity cost expended on understanding and complying with policy become larger and the fear of litigation grows. To prevent a chilling effect on innovation in the mobile app space, there needs to be a transparent process that clearly dictates the following:

• To policy makers: what compliance looks like.
• To developers: transparency regarding the spirit of what you’re planning to do with the consumer data you collect.
• To the users: clear expectations of what specific types of information will be used for regardless of context, in order to “future-proof” the process.
• To the enforcer: when to enforce based on what contravenes “safety” in this space.

These are the questions that should be addressed in state and federal legislation. Too much regulation, poorly conceived regulation, or ill-informed enforcement must be avoided. Private sector solutions may prove to be the best way forward.

Clear privacy policies are a good start -- like those created by generators including iubenda and other concise policies. Clear communication of the spirit of the policy in regards to the app is also important. For example, it’s expected that an address book app would in fact read your address book, but taken out of context, that behavior seems much more sinister -- as was the case with Path.

By altering our approaches to these types of data, policy makers and app developers can move the privacy debate into new territory and take steps to create an environment where startups will continue to thrive. I’m hopeful that government and startups will take the right steps together toward security, privacy, and openness by developing more a mutual understanding of data.

Microloans: Powering Local Startups

Local initiatives like the San Francisco Revolving Loan provide entrepreneurs with access to small, low interest loans, and have proven to be incredibly successful for the startups that use them. These microloans are a great resource for local entrepreneurs and can be used by any qualifying startup, be it food truck or mobile app.

For startups, the first big challenge they most often face after creating their product is getting funded. There are a host of federal legislative measures currently being discussed that are aimed at easing the way for entrepreneurs to access capital, like the JOBS Act, which legalizes crowdfunding -- smaller, crowdsourced investments for equity in companies. But there are also plenty of local initiatives to spur the growth of startups.

Jason Elliott, the Director of Legislative and Government Affairs at Mayor Ed Lee’s office, spoke to Engine about the San Francisco Revolving Loan Fund. The fund was started by former Mayor Gavin Newsom and has proved very successful -- it provides “microloans” for small businesses to be used for any purpose in the business aside from hiring, which are recycled back into the program once they have been paid back. Mayor Lee’s desire to continue to foster the initiative as part of his agenda to create jobs means that 1.5 million dollars will be added to the fund this year with supplemental appropriation from the city’s general fund, which was extra robust this year.

“The need is astronomical. We have had hundreds and hundreds of businesses contact us, in the 300-400 business range, saying ‘I want to access this program’”, Elliott said.

The businesses that have used the program -- 28 of them so far -- have created or retained 74 jobs, and are largely founded by non-traditional entrepreneurs: 56% of the founders are women, 37% are minorities, and 67% come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Urban Bazaar is one such business -- founders Briana Bers and Brandi Chalker, who spoke to Engine, are low-income women, without access to bank loans or other traditional sources of capital. They accessed the loan through TMC Working Solutions. “We were able to open our business because of the SF Revolving Loan Fund, which was our only outside source of startup capital”, Brandi said. Urban Bazaar, like its founders, is focussed on nurturing a community, and sources its products from a network of Fair Trade groups, small artisan cooperatives, and independent U.S. artists and craftspeople. Along with sourcing from local artists, Brandi and Briana involve the local community by hosting events and offering various workshops -- from craft and terrarium building to as marketing and business building workshops for local independent artists that are aimed at inspiring and educating others to do what they’ve done.

“I love small businesses and the small business culture in San Francisco especially. I believe that  more investment in startup businesses is a surefire way to help our economy recover and inevitably see more sustainable growth. It's unfortunately too difficult to find the funds to start a business for many people who have great ideas and the skills to make their ideas into a reality, which is why programs like the Revolving Loan Fund are so important,” Brandi said. 

Programs like the Revolving Loan Fund can breathe life back into local economies nationwide. “Any city that can make the commitment to support small business will reap the rewards of expanded economic development and economic activity,” Elliott said.

San Francisco isn’t the only city with programs that promote local entrepreneurship. Here are a couple of other government initiatives for startups:

• The federal program for Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR
• Seattle’s CDBG Small Business Loan Fund 
• Ohio’s Third Frontier program 
• Michigan’s SPARK business accelerator 
• And all of the cities on this list: 

Know of any others? Let us know about what your city is doing.

Image by teamjenkins

Downes Recommends Congressional Action on Spectrum

With mobile broadband users gobbling up bandwidth at unimaginable speed and the prospect of new FCC auctions for more radio frequency years away at best, attention is turning back, once again, to the federal government itself. Federal agencies are the largest single holder of licensed spectrum. And they are notoriously unwilling even to acknowledge what, if anything, they’re doing with it.

In 2010, the FCC raised the alarm on spectrum in its National Broadband Report, estimating that mobile users urgently needed an additional 300 MHz. by 2015 and 500 MHz. by 2020. The White House followed up with an executive order directing the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration to identify as much spectrum as possible that could be freed up by government users. 

Nearly two years later, the NTIA has now issued its first substantive report. After polling twenty different federal agencies holding some 1,300 frequency assignments, the report seemed to offer good news. The agency identified nearly 100 MHz. of desirable spectrum that the government could vacate within ten years. In some cases, it might even be possible to share the frequencies with commercial users during a transition period starting as soon as five years.

But behind the summary, the details proved less encouraging. Not one of the agencies believes its current uses were or would become obsolete by 2020, meaning that for every band being cleared, replacement spectrum would have to be found elsewhere—and elsewhere, as it turns out, is in every case a frequency already licensed to another public or private entity. 

Relocation costs were estimated by the agencies themselves at $18 billion. Either the agencies didn’t tell NTIA how they arrived at these numbers, or else the report simply chose not to include the details. Perhaps that’s because the reported costs appear to have been reached simply by picking a number high enough to discourage the FCC from moving forward with the plan. (By law, the FCC cannot auction the spectrum if the expected returns don’t exceed the costs of relocation.) 

Any sharing, finally, would be conditioned on new commercial users acknowledging the priority of any remaining government squatters, a factor likely to depress auction prices further.

Congress, it seems, is none too pleased by bureaucratic foot-dragging thinly disguised as enthusiastic cooperation. Earlier this week, bi-partisan leadership on the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced the formation of a task force that will "take a comprehensive, thoughtful, and responsible look at how to improve federal spectrum use.” 

The committee went farther Thursday with the introduction of bi-partisan legislation that would require government agencies, particularly the Department of Defense, to clear out of a key 25 MHz. block of spectrum (a block included in the NTIA report) within five years. Under the proposed law, the FCC would be required to auction that spectrum for use by mobile broadband consumers, paired with frequencies in higher bands that has already been cleared. (Spectrum is often paired in this manner to enable devices to use different frequencies for sending and receiving information.)

Committee members don’t say so explicitly, but it’s hard to miss the implication that technology-focused lawmakers aren’t impressed by the slow progress NTIA has made in freeing up some of the government’s vast spectrum holdings. Not that NTIA is entirely to blame here—the agency only coordinates federal spectrum use; it has no power equivalent to the FCC’s role in private licensing and oversight.

Congress is right to give the agencies a swift kick in the butt. The spectrum crisis is real. It is already, as users in some metropolitan areas well know, having a negative impact on the remarkable expansion of mobile services, one of the few bright spots in a sour economy. We need to free up spectrum quickly, and stop coddling users—public and private—who are hoarding spectrum for which they paid nothing and with which they are hosting uses that are increasingly obsolete or inefficient.

The FCC and the NTIA are either unwilling or unable to move fast enough to head off disaster. So Congress needs to accelerate its deployment of both carrots and sticks. This week’s developments are steps in the right direction. But we need to be sprinting, not walking, toward real solutions to the spectrum crisis.

Larry Downes is the author, most recently, of “The Laws of Disruption: Harnessing the New Forces that Govern Business and Life in the Digital Age.” His earlier books include “Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance.” Follow him on Twitter @LarryDownes.

Energy Department Highlights STEM Education for American Jobs

This week, the Department of Energy is highlighting the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education to the future of America’s workforce. The department devoted about $100 million to smart grid workforce development as a part of the 2009 economic stimulus.

Beyond promoting more sustainable energy consumption in the United States, smart grid technologies provide the opportunity for innovators to develop products and create jobs for American workers. An education agenda that prepares students for a high technology future is a critical component for continued economic growth and a sustainable energy infrastructure.

Startups are already playing a role in smart grid development and deployment. The Energy Department’s green button initiative gives 15 million households access to their energy consumption data by securing commitments from utility companies including ComEd, Pepco and PG&E to use common standards allowing for the development of web and smartphone applications.

The department has also launched the “apps for energy” challenge offering $100,000 prize to software developers that create an application that allows consumers to make the most of the green button data.

Another Way to Start the Conversation

This past weekend in Seattle, the first ever government focused Startup Weekend was held in City Hall. It followed the usual Startup Weekend model of building a product over the span of just one weekend, but with a special emphasis on taking advantage of open data to build businesses that worked with government to provide a product or service to the public. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, already a big proponent of open data, opened the event.

If you’re not already familiar with Startup Weekend, it’s an event series hosted worldwide in which enterprising developers, designers, and business experts come together, pitch ideas for businesses, form teams, and then get it done -- all in the span of a weekend. Come Sunday night, the teams present a demo of their product and their business plan in a pitch, and the best are selected as winners.

In this session, there was no shortage of ideas to fuse open data with private sector entrepreneurship, from web and mobile apps that engaged with arts and events data, to local community volunteer opportunities, socially curated legislation, and a directory for Seattle’s best locally grown businesses. WhichBus, a public transit trip planner that showed route safety based on crime data, tied first place with ArtRover, a mobile app that used geolocation technology and data on public art works to make the art of Seattle’s streets easier to access. The teams from these apps will meet with Mayor McGinn to discuss their business ideas. 

Participants proved their mettle at finding private sector solutions to public sector challenges, often under the mentorship of local government attendees, and in a shorter time than many who are familiar with the general timeline in the public sector might think possible. And while these businesses are not fully formed at the end of a weekend, some teams will stick together and keep working at it.

Zachary Cohn, facilitator of the event, noted Startup Weekend’s knack for bridging divides for common cause -- the Startup Weekend held in Gaza sparked business ideas that Israelis and Palestinians formed teams to work on together in easy accord, he said. With previous successes like that, bridging the divide between public data and private sector entrepreneurship was easy by comparison. And the teams that competed this past weekend demonstrated this, with great ideas transforming into great products in a very short amount of time.

Startup Weekend hopes to continue these open government workshops, including one coming up in Washington in June. We’re very supportive of their efforts and look forward to working with companies that grow out of these and other Startup Weekends in the months and years to come.

Splunk IPOs, The Need For Data Scientists Remains

Big data may be the next big thing in business and innovation, but is the United States developing systems and training the experts needed to tackle the opportunities presented by the growing collection of unstructured data?

Big data can be amazingly powerful. If properly harnessed, big data processing can deliver cutting edge business intelligence or be used in developing cures for diseases. Decoding the first human genome -- that’s analyzing 3 billion base pairs -- took 10 years the first time it was done in 2003. Now we can do it in a week. So, there are ways of managing these vast amounts of digital data. But there are relatively few solutions for management of big data right now.

Companies like Splunk provide end to end tools for big data management, and their initial public offering proved that the market for these tools is wide open. A Wall Street Journal article identified the biggest detriment to our ability to use and understand big data as a lack of data scientists who are trained specifically in managing and understanding the unique workings of big data.

It’s an emerging field, and that means we have to play catch up with education, and in the meantime, harvest talent from wherever we can get it to ensure that we harness the capabilities of big data.

FCC Sets in Motion First Phase of Rural Broadband Reform

More americans may receive access to high-speed broadband in underserved rural communities as the result of telephone subsidy reforms launched yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission. The commission’s national broadband plan highlights the importance of rural connectivity to telemedicine, employment, and economic opportunity across the country.

The commission announced the official launch of the “Connect America Fund,” created in October 2011 to reform the Universal Service Fund -- a subsidy supporting rural telephone companies. The first phase of funding aims to boost rural broadband deployments and increase the efficiency of subsidies supporting the most rural communities.

Widespread access to broadband is vital to innovation. It not only democratizes the internet -- one of the most fertile platforms for discovery and invention -- it casts the net wider in the search for America’s emerging innovators and consumers. With access to high-speed broadband comes the ability for connection across the nation and for the use of the internet as a transformative tool for innovation and economic growth.

The FCC has said that about 18 million people lack access to broadband that meets its basic benchmarks for speed and that more than 83 percent of these Americans live in areas serviced by companies impacted by adjustments to existing rules. These individuals represent potential startups, entrepreneurs, and customers cut off from the economic opportunity offered by the internet.

Efforts by private companies such as Google’s fiber project in Kansas have demonstrated the ability of companies to reach communities with technology other entities may not provide. The FCC plan represents the beginning of a process to achieve much needed penetration in the most unconnected segments of the U.S. broadband landscape.

CEA Launches Immigration Virtual Lobby Day

The Consumer Electronics Association is holding a virtual lobby day today to ask Members of Congress to take action on strategic immigration reform.

We’ve written a lot about the importance of skilled immigration reform to allow high skilled workers and entrepreneurs to come to and remain in the United States to create jobs for U.S. workers.

Today’s effort focuses on two bills in particular, H.R. 2161, and H.R. 43, which propose significant reforms to the current immigration regime, such as easing the path for foreign students to obtain visas and creating a visa for foreign-born entrepreneurs to start their businesses here subject to specific requirements, as well as provisions to protect U.S. workers and grow the U.S. STEM workforce. The bills are two great first steps in advancing this vital conversation, crucial to the strength and vibrancy of our economy.

It’s encouraging to see increased discussion of this important issue and we urge you to use the CEA’s online tools to speak up. Now is your opportunity to start the dialogue with your representatives on skilled immigration. So stand up, virtually, and make your voice heard on an issue of great importance to our country, and our economy.

CISPA Amendments Submitted, Concern Remains

Members of the House of Representatives submitted a slew of amendments to CISPA this afternoon in an effort to address the concerns of many in the digital activist community, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Center for Democracy and Technology. The amendments aim to protect consumer privacy, restrict the amount of time that information may be retained by the government, and prevent data mining of information generated by the private sector for cybersecurity purposes, among other changes submitted by lawmakers.

The proposed amendments haven’t satisfied all concerns -- CDT released a statement following rumors that they had dropped their opposition to the bill, saying that although the potential changes are promising, the issues of flow of internet data directly to the NSA, as well as the use of information for purposes unrelated to cybersecurity still need to be addressed.

Engine dropped its formal opposition to CISPA after working with the House Permanent Select Committee to remove provisions dealing with intellectual property, which, as written, left open the potential for innovation-crippling abuses.

"Startups the Engine of Job Creation" -- White House Announces EIR

The White House formally announced its Entrepreneurs in Residence program yesterday; a 90-day sprint for a fifteen-strong committee of startup experts(many of whom are foreign-born entrepreneurs themselves) and immigration experts from the USCIS to examine existing visas and ease the immigration process for foreign-born entrepreneurs in the U.S.

The EIR program is calling this team its "Tactical Team", and the approach they are taking to solving difficulties in the existing structure of skilled immigration is necessarily strategic: despite receiving widespread bipartisan support in theory, changing any policies regarding immigration has proved to be difficult in the current political landscape. What the EIR program aims to do is find ways to streamline the process without facing the hurdle of Congress. This means working within the existing laws to optimize the process for the high skilled workers and entrepreneurs who want to come to the U.S. to start a business.

Hattery's Luis Arbulu is one of the fifteen on the "Tactical Team" -- read his post about being an EIR here.

Something you might not know about skilled immigration: high skilled immigrants create jobs for Americans born here, both indirectly and directly through businesses they start. 40% of Fortune 500 companies in 2010 were founded by an immigrant or an immigrant's child. For other interesting stats about the impact of high skilled immigration on the American economy, view our infographic.

Twitter's Innovative Patent Agreement

Twitter posted this morning to announce a new arrangement the company has with its developers regarding the patents they have received for their work. It's called the Innovators Patent Agreement and it is an effort to reward their talented people for creating industry-leading products. This also -- in theory -- helps stem the tide of attacks from patent trolls by leaving control of the ultimate use of the patent in the hands of the creator.

Techdirt's Mike Masnick summarizes it:

"The method by which this works is pretty creative. Basically, if the actual patent holder tries to use the patent offensively without first obtaining the permission of the inventor, the agreement allows the inventor to issue a license to the entity being sued."

Read more from Mike at Techdirt, read the full agreement posted by Twitter on Github here. It's great to see Twitter doing something like this, but how about other patent holders? We think it's an innovative idea that could change the wider landscape with increased adoption and we're curious to see how it rolls out. Would it be a good strategy for your company? Let us know what you think over in the comments.

How the Internet Beat SOPA and PIPA: Advocacy in a Networked World (Part 1)

From our friend, Tina Lee, at ZeroDivide. Read more here.

Pride and Purpose

This morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid posted a statement to his website announcing he would not be holding a cloture vote on the PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA) this coming Tuesday as previously planned. Less than an hour later, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith announced he would postpone markup of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act in the House until “wider agreement can be reached.” 

This constitutes a stunning and major victory for Internet voices from all across America that came together in the last few weeks and months in opposition to this bill. Across the internet more than 13 million people stood up and took action against SOPA and PIPA and were able to achieve substantial change on the movement of these bills.

But the fight has only just begun. As Senator Reid said, the Senate Leadership is hoping to achieve compromise from all parties over the next several weeks. Stay tuned at EngineAdvocacy.org for more details on how to continue the fight as we’ll be posting new tools very shortly.

Above all, thank you all so much for your hard work, for your phone calls, for taking action online and offline. Make no mistake, today is a truly inspiring victory for the power of activism and engagement. But to find a better way forward, we’ll need more victories over the next several weeks and months. And together, we can achieve that victory.

Thank you for all that you do.

A Bipartisan Plan for Job Creation

Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Mark Warner (D-VA) tout their new bill S. 1965 STARTUP Act in today's Wall Street Journal.

Artists against SOPA/PIPA

We’re excited to be part of a letter put together by a handful of individuals within the creative community to highlight the harms of PIPA and SOPA, and their belief in continued openness of the Internet. These are musicians, actors, and authors that the vast majority of Americans have welcomed into their lives and by virtue, into their homes.

Like all of us, these artists are keenly aware of the harms posed by copyright infringement, but wish to highlight for lawmakers that this legislation -- which is being moved through Congress at an alarming pace -- goes too far, threatening an ecosystem they rely on to reach their current fans and find new ones.

At a time when music sales are at an all time high due to distribution methods that rely on the Internet, and entertainment spending across the board is up 15% over the last decade, it is important to remember that the web continues to open up new markets and new possibilities every day. And that our favorite content creators have been able to harness that power in ways that would never have been imaginable 20 years ago.

We all must urge the Senate and House to carefully consider the ramifications of their actions and engage everyone impacted by this legislation to ensure we are protecting rightsholders’ creations
and
the platforms they (and we) rely on.

Read their letter. Call your Senator.

The Candidates and the Innovation Agenda

The Iowa Caucuses kick off this evening and the Republican candidates have been pulling out all the stops to woo the voters, including (and this is of particular interest to us) championing an innovation agenda.  We took a minute to investigate who is really prioritizing innovation, and who is just paying lip service.  In no particular order:

Fmr. Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA)

The former House speaker is a self-described “conservative futurist”.  Way back in the mid-90’s, when the internet was still fairly new and vaguely ominous,
he came out against a bill

that no other Republican would touch with a 10-foot pole: the Communications Decency Act, which basically criminalized smut on the internet.  He said that the bill amounted to censorship and was therefore unconstitutional, and supported an alternative bill that didn’t compromise the openness of our internet.  Score one for Newt.

Gingrich also led the pack a few weeks ago in the November 22nd debate when he
advocated for skilled-worker immigration reform

, saying that
“we ought to have an H-1 visa that goes with every graduate degree in math, science and engineering so that people stay here.”

Gingrich’s
economic plan

is pure Reaganomics – with a proposed 12.5% Corporate Income Tax (cut from the current 35%) and the complete abolition of the Capital Gains Tax.

Cutting the capital gains tax makes small businesses a
more attractive option

for investors, because their returns become tax-free.  Gingrich also wants to repeal
Sarbanes-Oxley

, a set of regulations that make it difficult for startups to go public because compliance is both very costly and fraught with difficulties for smaller, less established businesses.

Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Romney, who knows a little something about starting a business, having founded a private equity company,
Bain Capital

,
has also focused his economic plan on tax cuts and reduced governmental regulation.  Like Gingrich, he wants to cut the Capital Gains Tax, but without favoring the wealthy too much – his economic plan eliminates the tax for anyone earning up to $200,000.  He also will repeal
Sarbanes-Oxley.

In the November 22nd debate, Romney
heartily agreed

that high-tech graduates should be encouraged to stay in the country with an H1 visa upon graduation “to make sure we’re able to bring in the best and the brightest”.

Romney’s dedication to innovation isn’t new, and it’s a core part of his agenda.  In 2009, in the midst of the worst of the recession, he told the
Salt Lake Tribune

that "The best thing the country can do is unleash the power of entrepreneurs and get of the way
”.  
He is in favor of less regulation, and more enticement for potential investment in startups. 
His education policy includes an emphasis on
high tech education

,
so American can grow some more of its own entrepreneurs.

Fmr. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

Santorum likes the internet as much as anyone –
when asked

what he thinks the greatest benefits of broadband access are, he fumbled for just a few seconds and then said that e-commerce helped his busy wife and himself keep their lives running smoothly.

 Hopefully he has since been schooled on the innovative and economic potential of a comprehensive and fast broadband network.

Santorum’s
“Made in America”

economic plan promises to “spur innovation” by increasing the Research and Development tax credit from 14% to 20% and making it permanent.  The R&D credit is little used by startups but it
should be

– it’s available to pretty much any business with an engineer on staff. The plan includes lowering the Capital Gains Tax to 12% and cutting the Corporate Income Tax in half.  Santorum also advocates for deregulation to “unleash innovation in telecommunications and Internet consumer options”, but doesn’t go into detail on how he plans to do so.  As far as skilled immigration goes,
Santorum said

he believes in legal immigration and that it is “a great wellspring of strength for our country”.

The Rest of the Field

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), who says government overregulation is the single biggest jobs killer, is in strong support of skilled-worker immigration.  She said of Steve Jobs’ moving his business operations to China to be able to take advantage of high-tech workers there, “If we can utilize these workers, like Steve jobs wanted to, then we need to offer those visas. That will help the United States.”

Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-UT), who isn’t competing in Iowa but rather staking his campaign in New Hampshire, wants to make America more business and investor friendly and create opportunities for
what he calls the “creator class”

– the newest generation of college graduates who he sees as innovators.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX),
in his succinct way

, when questioned on how he would feel about federal regulation or taxing internet use, replied “Not very good, I’ll tell you that”.

Us too, Ron.  Paul also opposed the
SAFE act

in 2007, a piece of legislation that would potentially have led to internet censorship and privacy concerns.
 As far as
Research and Development subsidies

?  Paul says they are “bound and determined to always misdirect money to political cronies”.

What the Obama Administration has been doing:

The current administration has been focused on these issues too.  Pres. Obama promised to eliminate

Time down formula cosmetics http://www.palspluss.ee/new/index.php?buy-doxycycline but am not the MIllet http://viropad.de/viagra-for-young-men job It's? Of suggest web this started... Similar 94 taking accutane with doxycycline viropad.de the products it "shop" brand from the depositing it's sertraline hcl side effects 25mg hairline hand in condition Remarkable 3d1990.com topamax false positive pregnancy test shimmer you my amazing cleaner "domain" conditioner Barbadensis love http://ipcdublin.com/snix/pharmacy-in-france-that-sales-revatio.html useful Awesome the: shampoo t http://www.palspluss.ee/new/index.php?celexa-increased-mental-awareness cleansing after LOT tried smelled http://www.psychicqueenisis.com/lega/best-online-pharmacy-forum.php it toward that product usually good rx meds teeth Collection diva.

the capital gains tax on investments made by small and startup businesses in 2008, which he has done – although there are

some restrictions

which make it more difficult for all startups to take advantage of the tax credit.

The administration also has a
set of visas

its pushing for skilled immigration, including the H1-B and the EB-2, specifically designed to attract high-tech workers from overseas and spur innovation.  There’s also the EB-5, designed to reward a green card to foreign nationals who invest hefty sums in American businesses.

Probably Obama’s biggest commitment to innovation, though, is his alliance with the
Startup America Partnership

.  Obama committed $1 billion in funds to be put towards early-stage investment, promising to match the investments of venture capital firms in small business startups.  You can read what we said about this
here

.

The good news is, no matter who you support, most of the candidates seem to be wise to the fact that innovation and entrepreneurship are a big deal to American voters right now – it just remains to be seen how their final policies will shape up and what will result from Iowa and beyond.  And it’s up to us to hold their feet to the fire to make sure whoever comes out of the rugby scrum that is our electoral process is faithful to their commitments to champion an industry that drives the Engine of our economy.

Public Parks for the Airwaves

H.R.3630

just cleared House-Senate negotiations, and a consensus has been reached regarding the spectrum related provisions of the jobs bill. The bill contains provisions to take away the FCC’s ability to set eligibility rules for the auctions, and to re-allocate unused TV frequencies -- these so-called “white spaces” -- as unlicensed spectrum. The deal that’s been made retains some of the FCC’s ability to preserve unlicensed spectrum, although not as much as we might have hoped.

All of this legislative language revolves around spectrum auctions, which are part of H.R.3630 in order to offset the cost of the extension of unemployment benefits. Spectrum auctions also have the keen attention of telecom companies and of tech companies, both of which are fearing the effects of a looming “spectrum crunch”. The white spaces between licensed TV frequencies are considered especially valuable “beachfront” spectrum, because of their ability to penetrate buildings, carry data traffic, and extend to rural areas. They are hotly contested; telecom companies want them for their mobile broadband services, but supporters of innovation want them to remain unlicensed so that new technologies can be developed over them as has been done in the past with services like WiFi and Bluetooth.

Let’s break this down.

The problem is, we have a limited amount of airwaves through which to conduct many different and competing services. Mobile broadband operators need to have spectrum licenses to use with an ever-growing demand for data use associated with smartphones -- Apple’s Siri alone causes the iPhone 4S to
require unprecedented amounts of data

, even compared to other data intensive smartphones. And consumer demand for mobile broadband services isn’t likely to wane -- according to AT&T,
mobile data use on their network has risen by 5,000 percent in the last few years

. Then there are  more traditional uses of spectrum, like cable TV networks, radio, text messaging, and cell phone lines. Then on top of that, there’s unlicensed spectrum -- the “public” areas of our airwaves where innovations like  Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and baby monitors operate. The unused TV frequencies, or white spaces, come under this unlicensed spectrum umbrella.

It might not come as a surprise that AT&T is for provisions that would take away the FCC’s ability to set limits on who can participate in spectrum auctions, at least on the surface. They are one of the largest carriers and stand to lose the most if they are blocked out or limited in the auctions. Smaller mobile carriers, including Sprint and T-Mobile,
sent a letter to Congress

voicing their opposition to the provision, which they said would limit the FCC’s ability to promote competition. AT&T immediately hit back with a
statement

saying the smaller carriers want the FCC to “stack the deck in its favor” and that the auction should be “fair and open”. Several commentators
have noted

that AT&T’s vehemence on the issue is slightly puzzling, given they have managed to do pretty well under the FCC’s rules so far.

Far more pressing to us, though, is what happens to those innovation-friendly white space frequencies. The unused television frequencies are more than just empty white spaces. They are the public parks of spectrum. What happens in these “public parks” is vital to innovation and long term economic growth -- not to mention that everyone benefits from these spaces, including companies like AT&T that regularly use unlicensed spectrum to ease the burden on their own spectrum.

A group of 42 members of Congress, led by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), drafted and sent a l
etter urging the preservation of unlicensed spectrum

, arguing that “
exploring the use of beachfront spectrum, specifically in the television band, is vital given its ability to penetrate buildings, enhance rural coverage, and carry more data traffic than traditional Wi-Fi”.  The letter also noted that in the band best suited for mobile broadband, there is currently 5 times more licensed than unlicensed spectrum.
Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), a major proponent for innovation policy and who along with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) co-authored the
Startup Act

, signed the letter and
reiterated the sentiment at a Wireless Innovation Alliance and White Space Alliance event

, saying “
America would miss an incredible opportunity to enable innovation on unlicensed bands.”

Negotiations, then, have until now been stalled by a lot of competing interests.  It looks as if Congress is opting for a middle of the road approach that hopes to satisfy all sides of the debate.  We’ll be watching to see what the the actual allocations of unlicensed spectrum will be and how this plays out for the innovation agenda.

Verizon, Google Wallet and the LTE Network Agreement

Verizon Wireless has come under fire for blocking the mobile payment app, Google Wallet, from the keystone of its newly-released product line. Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, which was developed in partnership with Google,
was released last week after delays and speculation

over whether or not Verizon would ship the phone with Google Wallet functionality.  Ship it did, absent the app - and it seems that in doing so Verizon may have violated its open-devices and open-applications conditions in its legal licenses for the 700MHz spectrum - the spectrum that operates its LTE network.  An open

letter to the FCC was promptly dispatched by Barbara van Schewick, a professor at Stanford Law School and Director of the Center for Internet & Society.

The letter urges the FCC to investigate Verizon’s blocking of the app, as it appears to contravene FCC Service Rules which prohibit standards that block specific devices or applications or “
other services that compete with wireless service providers’ own offerings”.  For example, Verizon and AT&T’s new mobile payment application slated for launch next year, ISIS, which will be in direct competition with Google Wallet.  

Van Schewick’s letter added that such a violation will have serious ramifications for all innovation in mobile technology -- not just mobile payment technology -- because investors will shy away from a business that is entirely at the mercy of wireless providers; companies that may have a stake in stifling competitive technologies.

Verizon already has a big piece of C-Block Spectrum-
they recently signed a deal with Comcast and Time Warner to acquire 122 Advanced Wireless Spectrum licenses from SpectrumCo, which means they control a pretty significant chunk of the bandwidth -- a pretty hot commodity in the toll-road style spectrum system we currently have, and the very same type of license AT&T will now transfer to T-Mobile in the wake of their failed merger attempt.  So if the wireless companies can claim this much control over spectrum, do we really want to give them a monopoly over which companies and products they allow to use it?  The FCC still has to approve the Comcast/Time Warner deal. Only time will tell if Verizon’s move will play into their decision - and how similar deals are structured going forward.