The problem, as Larry Downes, a Senior Adjunct Fellow at TechFreedom, explains to us, is that the program is full of fraud and abuse. The program’s original intention was good but, since there was no cap, anyone who was eligible applied for service. As a result, the program grew and grew but had no checks and balances.

Now, the FCC says that is now going to audit the program and projects that it will save $3 billion. With this savings, it plans to initiate a pilot program to bring broadband to eligible participants.

However, Downes told us that the FCC doesn’t have the authority to this. In addition, the agency is beginning its broadband plan before its checks and balances are implemented. Downes is concerned that the FCC will have already spent the money before it finds out if its reforms are adequate.

Although the FCC released its order this week, it could potentially be reversed if a group or party tries to challenge it.

While the “spectrum crunch” issue is not disputed, the way in which new spectrum would be distributed is sparking a big debate in Washington. The solution involves putting the spectrum that is no longer used by broadcast radio and television companies up for auction. However, the problem is between policymakers and the FCC. Legislators want to hold open auctions for the spectrum, but the FCC wants to have the power to say who is and isn’t included in the auction.

According to Bruce Mehlman, the former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Tech Policy and the Co-Chair of the Internet Innovation Alliance, open auctions are the better alternative for users and the U.S. economy. As he explained, old government decisions that set limitations are the reason for the current mess. He, therefore, believes that the market should be open for anyone who wants to participate in the auction to have the opportunity to do so.

“The biggest challenge is if the FCC gets its way… I think the spectrum crunch these very auctions are expected to alleviate doesn’t get alleviated… then problems continue,” said Mehlman.

Incidentally, several small wireless carriers including Sprint and T-Mobile, recently asked lawmakers to preserve the FCC’s authority in auctions. Verizon and AT&T are not in favor of this preservation because they believe the FCC could favor the smaller mobile players.

What’s the answer for the spectrum crunch? Please let us know your thoughts.

According to Peter Daboll, the company’s CEO, the top spot was actually tied by M&M’s with its “Just My Shell” spot and Doritos with its “Sling Baby” ad. Coca-Cola followed with its “The Catch,” and the Doritos “Man’s Best Friend” and Coca-Cola’s “Superstition” ads came in 4th and 5th respectively.

As Daboll explained, all these ads were humorous, which gave them a broad demographic appeal that is perfect for the Super Bowl audience.

On the not-so-effective side, Ace Metrix’s least effective ads were Budweiser’s “Welcome to Halftime,” Hulu’s “Hulubratory,” Budweiser’s “Work,” H&M’s “David Beckham Bodywear Collection,” and Budweiser’s “Eternal Optimism.” According to Daboll, these ads were not properly tested and left people wondering what the real message was.

What were your favorite ads? Which did you like the least? We’d love to hear in the comments.

While the news adds another player to the space for consumers to choose from, most people are talking about the impact of the unnamed Verizon/Redbox venture on Netflix. As we all know, Netflix had its share of problems last year when it hiked its prices. Many users even said they were discontinuing their service as a result.

However, Bryan Gonzalez, the Director of Social Entertainment Labs at the Entertainment Technology Center at USC, told that, if Netflix keeps its focus on content, it would remain a competitor in the space. According to him, Redbox and Verizon’s venture will be a contender but will not likely kill Netflix.

Coinstar and Verizon said their service would be available at the second half of this year. Is this a service you’ll use?

Francis Gaskins, the President of IPODesktop.com, told us that, even though Facebook’s IPO has a lot of potential, its estimated valuation of $75-100 billion is not reasonable. As he explained, when you look at the past 4-5 quarter results, Facebook’s earnings were flat.

What’s more is the fact that Facebook didn’t really have a competitor during that time. Now, however, with Google+ on the scene and growing at a rapid rate, Gaskins believes that the company’s forecast could be off.

According to him, Facebook should have gone public last summer, which would have made it the first of its kind.

Do you think Facebook should be valued at $100 billion? Why or why not?

It’s clear that users have played a big role in building Facebook, but what does the IPO mean for them? According to Chris Treadaway, the founder of Polygraph Media as well as the author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day, Facebook will improve the user experience but will be very focused on increasing its revenue.

While there are concerns over how big and powerful Facebook will become, especially in light of all the data it has, Treadaway doesn’t think that people will simply drop the service.  As he explains, Facebook provides many benefits for its users and has become a huge part of society. For these reasons and others, he says it would be difficult for the trend to change so quickly.

Another group that has influenced the growth of Facebook is marketers. The Facebook platform offers a unique opportunity for marketing, and both marketers and advertisers have taken advantage of it. Treadaway tells us that, with its IPO, he expects Facebook to become more involved in lead generation with consumers and sellers of consumer goods.

In addition, he said there would likely be more tools going forward to accommodate Facebook’s greater push toward behavioral ad targeting.

What are your thoughts on Facebook’s IPO? We’d love to know.

As Alex Bard, the Vice President and General Manager of Desk.com explained to us, Salesforce talked to thousands of SMBs and found that they needed customer support that was social, mobile, and simple. Bard told us that, because customer support was such a challenging area, they wanted to create a tool that managed all these areas in a simplistic way.

Desk.com also provides analytics in order to give businesses insight into where they need to improve.

According to Bard, the first seat for the service is free, and from there, subscriptions start at $49 per month. For those casual members that only need to occasional access, the charge is $1 per hour.

Do you think Desk.com will improve customer service for SMBs? Let us know.

These are just some of the questions that people are wondering about in regards to this year’s big game. WebProNews spoke with Peter Daboll, the CEO of ad analytics company Ace Metrix, who offered some insight into what we could expect to see as well as what works and what doesn’t.

For starters, he told us that celebrities don’t ensure success. In fact, he said that ads without celebrities generally work better than those with them. However, he did say that animals seem to always be effective because they appeal to a broader demographic and are much more likable.

It appears that Sketchers is finding this out since it recently dropped its spokesmodel Kim Kardashian for a dog.

Although we won’t know which brands will pull off successful ads until Sunday, Daboll said that we could likely expect effective spots from Coca-Cola, M&M’s, and Doritos since they consistently do well.

Do you prefer animals or celebrities in commercials? Let us know.

WebProNews spoke with Chris Tolles, the CEO of Topix, who told us that voters are trending online because they get a more balanced view. The study also found that voters are going online in order to participate in political discussions and debates.

Tolles told us that this trend would increase in the coming years as voters strive to have a “personal relationship” with news. He also said that politicians would have to learn how to leverage online platforms such as Topix, Facebook, and Twitter, to ensure that they are connecting with the conversation.

Where do you go for your political information? Let us know.

“It wasn’t just his body down in it and his head out, his whole body was down inside the bag,” she told WebProNews.

As she explained, the school had called and asked her to come and get her son because he was “bouncing off the walls.” When she arrived and saw what had happened, she was outraged and took the story to local news outlets.

Lydia Brown, an autistic college student at Georgetown University, saw the story and decided to create a petition on Change.org. The petition, which has received over 180,000 signatures already, calls for the school to take action against the teacher involved as well as comprehensive training for all school personnel.

However, as with many viral stories, the Christopher Baker case has generated a fair share of controversy. Some people from the autism community have spoken out in defense of the school saying that therapy bags are often used for treating autistic individuals.

Another debatable issue is in regards to how the bag was used. Christopher’s mother says he was put into the bag for misbehaving, which raises concerns over the use of seclusion and restraint in the treatment of individuals with disabilities.

Amy Dawson, the Founder of the Autism Advocacy & Law Center LLC, told us that seclusion or restraint could be harmful to any child but especially those with disabilities since he or she may not be able to fully understand what is happening.

At this time, the school board has said that it has concluded its investigation and is moving on. Sandra Baker, who now has legal support from The Gallini Group in Alabama and Chevalier Ginn Shirooni & Kruer in Kentucky, is continuing to fight the incident.

How do you feel about this story and its rapid spread? Let us know.

According to intellectual property attorney Miles Feldman, the “drama is still being written.” As someone who has personally been involved with litigation involving the Black Eyed Peas, Will Smith, and others, he told us that he supported the overall purpose of SOPA and PIPA because online piracy is a serious problem. He, however, did not support the language of the bills due to their lack of clarity, which is why he is also concerned about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that is sparking interest of late.

As he explained to us, finding a balance between freedom of speech and intellectual property rights is an ongoing and challenging battle. That said, he doesn’t believe that these proposals serve as effective solutions.

He told us that he would like to see the entertainment industry and the Internet community come together to create a new Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that embraces the concept of SOPA/PIPA but that has a clause that eliminates a safe harbor for companies that are complying with the law.

What do you think of Feldman’s suggestions? Do you agree or disagree?

WebProNews spoke with Dan Jaffe, the Executive Vice President of Government Relations for ANA, about ICANN’s execution of the plan. According to him, ICANN’s plan will be harmful to both businesses and consumers.

Not only have ANA and CRIDO pleaded with ICANN, but the FTC and other areas of the U.S. government have also reached out to ICANN to express their concerns about the plan. ICANN has said that it would protect businesses against defensive buying of domains, but as Jaffe explained to us, it has not tested to see if its protections actually work.

While the impact of ICANN’s action won’t fully be felt until after it closes the application process in April, Jaffe told us that ANA and CRIDO would continue to raise its concerns in hopes of being heard.

Incidentally, ICANN has said that it has already approved 25 successful registrants for new domains.

As Shankman explained, the free service creates a platform that lets casting directors and agents find talent and also that helps talent find work. The interactive community also has a social media-based contest element called MediaBlastr that allows friends and family to vote for their loved one on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

Shankman told us that the entertainment industry is trying to embrace technology better than the music industry did. Even though there are challenges, especially in terms of monetization, he said that Hollywood was determined to make it work.

WebProNews spoke with former Congressman and Internet Innovation Alliance Honorary Chairman Rick Boucher about these questions and others, who gave us his perspective on the companies. Congressman Boucher supported the merger, as he told us in a prior interview, because he believed it would bring innovation, help the economy, and produce jobs.

He told us that, although AT&T would not be able to complete its goals in the same time frame it would have if the deal had gone through, he believed it could still meet them. The Congressman also said T-Mobile was a strong company, and he believed it would remain a player in the mobile industry. However, its biggest challenge will be gaining the capital it needs to deploy 4G.

Even though he thinks the companies will bounce back from this hurdle, Congressman Boucher told us that the mobile industry, consumers, and the economy would be impacted long-term.

What’s your prediction for the future of AT&T and T-Mobile? Let us know in the comments.

As Tom Brophy, the company’s CEO explained to WebProNews, Raditaz allows users to discover and listen to music from a catalog of over 14 million songs, see what music is trending locally, and share music with their friends. In addition, users can create new stations and tag them with keywords such as #running, #beach, etc.

Brophy told us that, because users are so accustomed to a personalized music experience, traditional radio outlets aren’t as effective as they once were. According to him, there are 80 million Internet radio listeners, which is a number that is expected to grow over time. With this growth combined with the need for a personalized radio experience, Brophy believes that Raditaz introduces the “future of Internet radio.”

The app is free and is available for download on both the iOS and Android platforms. How do you think it compares with services like Pandora?