Archive for January, 2008
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
ArsTechnica has an excellent summary of the eloquent, biting critiques of Comcast being aired in an FCC proceeding.
End users with an exceptional understanding of the underlying technology provide pretty damning evidence that the broadband service provider is deliberately degrading certain kinds of internet traffic.
Posted in FCC, Internet policy, Network neutrality, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
Monday, January 28th, 2008
Two quick links (both on Wetmachine) here on the FCC's 700 MHz spectrum auction.
First, Harold Feld has another great bit of analysis on why Google is bidding to win, though it's not nearly as in-depth as his Great Google Prophecy last month.
Second, Greg Rose has an outstanding critique of the ...
Posted in FCC, Internet policy, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
We have a long way to go, but the first round of the FCC's 700 MHz spectrum auction fetched bids totaling $2.4 billion.
None of the prices have yet reached the FCC's reserves, and the auction's close is still many weeks away.
Posted in FCC, Internet policy | No Comments »
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
Robert Reich's latest book, Supercapitalism, is a fantastic analysis of the current relationship between corporations, citizens, and politics.
I put Supercapitalism on my wish list after Prof. Lawrence Lessig's glowing recommendation. While I make no pretense of being such a gifted writer as either of these scholars, here I attempt to ...
Posted in Activism, Antitrust, Congress, Corruption, Industry Self-Regulation, Media criticism, Network neutrality, Speech, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
The Citizen Media Law Project has released a Primer on Copyright Liability and Fair Use.
Here is the very helpful overview from the conclusion:
While there is no definitive test for determining whether your use of another's copyrighted work is a fair use, there are several things you can do to ...
Posted in Copyright | No Comments »
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
While the process will drag through late February or early March, today marks the kickoff of the FCC's auction of the 700 MHz spectrum, in which TV channels 50-69 will be sold to the highest bidders in four blocks.
For background on the process, see the Public Knowledge page on spectrum ...
Posted in FCC, Internet policy, Network neutrality, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
Monday, January 21st, 2008
In the previous post, I provided the context of my AIR-L debate about the finer contours of copyright. Here, I've added some further thoughts. Comments are very welcome.
Part II: The Response
Posted in Copyright | 1 Comment »
Sunday, January 20th, 2008
In this post and its sequel, I extend a discussion of copyright begun on a internet researchers’ listserv. This entry provides more information about the context. The second post represents my response.
Part I: The Context
Posted in Copyright, Internet policy | 1 Comment »
Friday, January 18th, 2008
David Isenberg has a great post on why Time Warner's bandwidth-sensitive pricing plan is good.
The very short version is that it's honest and a reasonable substitute for non-neutral packet discrimination, but the details will matter tremendously.
(Isen.blog link via Berkman Buzz)
UPDATE: I failed to mention the important caveat that bandwidth-sensitive pricing ...
Posted in Industry Self-Regulation, Internet policy, Network neutrality, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
Monday, January 7th, 2008
The Wired blog Underwire appears ready to declare music-protecting DRM dead in light of Sony BMG's decision to begin selling some tracks in the unprotected MP3 format.
Since Sony was the last holdout among the big four record labels, this is indeed big news; that said, I remain skeptical that the ...
Posted in Copyright, DRM, Internet policy, Music industry, Technological Protection Measures | No Comments »