Archive for the ‘Antitrust’ Category
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
In a filing with the FCC (pdf), Comcast claims that, thanks to market competition and blogging watchdogs, there is no need for regulatory intervention to protect net neutrality.
The company's recent discrimination against peer-to-peer traffic is the cause of the hearing. Last August, Comcast denied the charges (which were first documented ...
Posted in Antitrust, DRM, FCC, Industry Self-Regulation, Internet policy, Network neutrality, Technological Protection Measures, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law, Uncategorized | 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 »
Tuesday, July 10th, 2007
As Verizon moves forward with installing FiOS fiber optic phone/internet/TV service in (mostly wealthy, white) neighborhoods throughout the country, it is taking the time and expense to pull out copper wires.
Why spend the money? As explained on the Consumers Union blog, Hear Us Now, there are two obvious incentives. First, ...
Posted in Antitrust, FCC, Internet policy, Media consolidation, Network neutrality, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
The New York Times has created a searchable database for studying the words used during Bush's State of the Union addresses.
The database provides a total of how many times he's used a word in each speech, and you can see each use of a word in its context. Play with ...
Posted in Antitrust, Privacy | No Comments »
Friday, December 29th, 2006
After months in front of a deadlocked FCC, AT&T has a green light to swallow BellSouth (pdf). The new company will control "more than half the telephone and Internet access lines in the U.S."
The merger likely would have sailed through on the strength of the FCC's 3-2 Republican majority, but ...
Posted in Antitrust, FCC, Internet policy, Media consolidation, Network neutrality, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
Friday, December 15th, 2006
As reported by CNet, the Justice Department on Thursday denied allegations that it gave approval after a stacked-deck hearing.
Posted in Antitrust, Media consolidation | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006
In an effort to create ever-greater profits, the NFL is now running 8 live games per season on the NFL Network.
Just 40 million households will be able to see the Broncos-Chiefs game on Thanksgiving. As an NFL fan generally and a diasporic Broncos fan in particular, I find this arrangement ...
Posted in Antitrust | No Comments »
Saturday, October 14th, 2006
In response to European and South Korean antitrust concerns, Microsoft has made several changes to its forthcoming operating system.
The new OS, Vista, will now feature less lock-in for its search, file formatting, and security features, the company has announced. So far, security firms are skeptical; the company has promised but ...
Posted in Antitrust, DRM | No Comments »
Friday, October 13th, 2006
The FCC has decided to allow experimenation in the highly desirable portion of spectrum that currently carries over-the-air TV.
The spectrum, which falls below 900 megahertz, is generally viewed as the Park Avenue of the airwaves. It carries transmissions through walls and other obstructions much more easily than the slices of ...
Posted in Antitrust, FCC, Internet policy, Media consolidation, Network neutrality, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
Thursday, June 15th, 2006
Props to my fellow Public Knowledge intern Tim Schneider, who smartly incorporates Blair Levin’s Senate testimony into his latest blog post about network neutrality. Levin served as Chief of Staff at the FCC, and he is now a Wall Street analyst.
Levin makes four key points about the likely economic impact ...
Posted in Antitrust, Congress, FCC, Internet policy, Network neutrality, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »