The PK in the Know podcast has been off for the past few weeks so that we could make technical changes to the back end.  This will result in a better feed, but  unfortunately it also means that the feeds have changed.  Please update your feeds by clicking here to subscribe via iTunes, and clicking here to subscribe via other readers.

But now, on to this week's podcast!

Here in Washington, a classic way to get a bad policy passed is to attach it to the back of some unrelated “must pass” piece of legislation. Attaching one bad idea to a bill is sneaky.  Attaching two bad ideas is bold.  Attaching three?  Well, that’s what we have with a trio of horrible wireless ideas that some people in Congress are trying to attach to the upcoming Payroll Tax bill.

It is almost as if the proponents of these additions took a few years’ worth of ideas that will make wireless worse, wrapped them up in a bundle, and glued them to the underside of a bill that – if it does not pass – will raise taxes for millions of Americans.  In this case, these conditions would apply to spectrum freed up by the transition to digital TV broadcasting, and would impact some of the most useful spectrum to become available for years.  What are these conditions?

Thomas Friedman writes in his column yesterday that none of the Republican candidates has focused much on technological innovation, then proceeds to focus on the matter of “smart cities.” Friedman’s thesis is fairly straightforward: to maintain our competitive edge, we will need to keep pumping up our bandwidth, particularly in cities and towns which historically act as the incubators for The Next Big Thing and all its associated, Highly Useful Little Things. Blair Levin’s Gig U gets favorable mention, and Blair gets quoted a lot on why we want huge bandwidth in urban areas as well as making sure everyone gets access to functional broadband.

From Mountain Area Information Network, A N.C. non-profit, to Congressman Schuler.

Not surprisingly, the ubiquitous combination of incentive auctions/D Block re-allocation/Public Safety Network has made its way into the proposed American Jobs Act. Somewhat surprisingly, the spectrum piece is not simply a reprint of the Hutchison/Rockefeller S.911 Bill or the Democratic House discussion draft. It’s not even a straight cut and paste from Reid’s Debt Ceiling/Deficit Reduction draft (Reid being the one who introduced the President's Bill) that gave the broadcasters conniptions but raised the revenue for debt reduction.

No sooner had I posted my wonkish critique of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score for S.911, the Rockefeller Public Safety/Spectrum Bill over on my Wetmachine blog ("Where snark meets wonk and the sparks fly!") when Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) turns around and drops a new version of the plan as part of his debt ceiling bill (Best version of Debt Ceiling bill I could find here).

On today's podcast, we discuss the time traveling spectrum bill, monkey copyright, Comcast running into trouble with data caps, and updates from the Creators Freedom Project.  We also discuss Newport Television's attempt to silence criticism from Free Press by sending them a bogus DMCA takedown notice with Free Press Policy Counsel Corie Wright.

Creators' Freedom Project Related Events:

Working with Outside the Box Music, we're putting on our next "Rock Your Net" Internet marketing series, which starts August 4th in Nashville, TN. For more details, go here.

Parachute Musical and Ocean Is Theory, two bands that CFP is working with have a show in DC on Saturday, July 23 at DC9. More details on the bands' websites, download a free track from both bands here.

The 1861 Project is having its Album Release party next Tues, July 19 @ 7PM at Nashville's Basement. To RSVP, check out this Facebook Event.

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