shouting loudly

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 media’s premature 700 [...]

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.

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 reform. As always, Harold [...]

Many folks have wondered how serious Google is about winning a slice of the 700 MHz spectrum in the upcoming auction. Harold Feld answers this for us in the best blog post ever. Specifically, they’re bent on destroying the current business model of the mobile industry and preserving the last vestiges of an open internet. [...]

In my last report on this story, I put little thought into a minilink to an article by CNet’s Anne Broache, which frets that proposed net neutrality bills probably would not prevent Comcast’s ongoing peer-to-peer blockade. I no longer agree; I think even the weaker of the two bills on this count, if properly enforced [...]

CNet describes Google’s announcement that it will bid on 700 MHz spectrum as “Google versus the telecoms.”

In a congressional hearing this week, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House telecommunications subcommittee, took the FCC to task over its recent track record of deregulating broadband. Especially since 2001, the FCC has rolled back many of the policies that require those who own the broadband infrastructure to share their lines. Instead, the [...]

In its latest attempt to block the FCC from imposing modest interconnection requirements on the 700 MHz spectrum auction, Verizon filed suit this week in the DC Circuit. The Commission wants end users to be able to use the device of their choosing and the applications of their choosing–what Tim Wu calls “Wireless Carterfone.” For [...]

In a series begun yesterday, the Seattle Times is taking on the sorry state of the media industry and media policy. Editorial Page Editor James Vesely has a brief introduction. Yesterday, they ran an opinion piece by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. Today, it’s Penn Law School luminary Ed Baker. Today, they also ran a scathing [...]

There are often times when I wish I had my trusty digital voice recorder—the one that sent Senator Ted Stevens’ “series of tubes” anti-net neutrality speech into the Internet Meme Hall of Fame. Yesterday afternoon at the annual convention for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the most poignant such moment came [...]