I attended the the CTIA wireless industry’s global show in New Orleans last week. It was a great opportunity to hear from all the leaders in the industry, and to walk the exhibit floor to see the great innovations in the mobile space. Wireless industry leaders from AT&T,... Read The Story...

Tomorrow, on April 26th, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” (now expanded to include “our sons” as well). I can still remember the times that I tried to convince my daughter to join me for a day at the office. I’m pretty sure she didn’t really enjoy the working environment of my policy job- where I spent most of my time in an office working behind a desk – but I think she just liked to be close to me. Later this month, she will graduate from medical school and will happily never spend more than a couple of moments of her day stuck behind the desk she dreaded.

However, giving our kids a first-hand view of the working world is a great experience and today, it is greatly enhanced by technology. For those unable to go into the city, technology can bring the office into the home and show our kids how the office operates even from a rural community. Our mobile devices provide an enhanced work experience, both in the office, at home, and on the go. In today’s high tech world, increasingly our daughters and sons are often our best educators for cutting-edge technology. “Take Your Daughter and Son to Work Day” provides an opportunity to discuss how technology helps to enhance our lives and jobs.

On this day of sharing the work experience, we no longer just sit our kids down at our desks in front of a typewriter to keep them busy.

Now, it’s more likely they’re showing us a new trick or two on our own tech devices! So, if you can, take your kids to work — and both of you can learn from each other.

I am pleased to see that the FCC has launched its own website that will help consumers work to track their online usage and costs. The website (found here: http://fcc.us/billshocks) is part of a cooperative agreement reached in the Fall of 2011 with wireless carriers and consumer organizations. It was agreed that carriers would provide consumers with free alerts before they approach any limits and incur fees when using their wireless phones. The FCC has promised to assist with this just-launched website that provides alert information for consumers.

The FCC’s website provides general information on the alerts each carrier offers. However, consumers should check with their wireless carrier directly for further information on the tools offered to most effectively track their own wireless usage and cots.

I attended a great panel last week convened by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) on the topic: Internet Platform Competition and Market Convergence. The title of the panel is rather lengthy, but the main concepts raised by the panelists were short and to the point.

Anna Maria Kovacs, a visiting scholar with the Center for Business and Public Policy at Georgetown University, presented data that shows how consumers of telecommunications are no longer a homogeneous group. Therefore we need to move away from the regulatory approach of “one size fits all.” One interesting data point that Kovacs offered that I found most interesting was the percentage of consumers that receive their voice service at home from an ILEC– just about 32% — our incumbent providers that used to be the only show in town. The rest have a VOIP service (Voice Over Internet), Wireless, or another switched wireline service. Kovacs points out that we still have regulations from the days when those ILECS provided voice service to just about every home — and now two-thirds of consumers have said that’s not what they need or want, so regulations have to adjust. Her data was quite interesting and it does raise an important point about how regulations need to adapt to changes in the marketplace.

The other panelist, attorney Jonathan Sallet, spoke about how restraining market power is important, but that antitrust enforcement is a better tool than government regulation. He provided an interesting discussion of the principles of any governmental action in a broadband world — and the importance of the consumer role in the marketplace. In all, it was an interesting and provocative panel.

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Consumer Resources

Below are additional resources to more information about online privacy.

Consumer Guide to Online Privacy (PDF)
What is 4G Wireless Service? (PDF)
Consumer Online Privacy Survey
2008 Online Safety Survey
bNetS@vvy
www.onguardonline.gov
www.ikeepsafe.org/
www.getnetwise.org
www.fosi.org
www.enough.org

Other Organizations

National Caucus and Center on Black Aged:
http://www.ncba-aged.org/

National Consumers League:
http://www.nclnet.org/