Archive for the ‘Telecommunications’ Category
Saturday, April 5th, 2008
I'm stoked by Damian Kulash's New York Times opinion calling for mandated network neutrality. It's a far more accessible, engaging piece than almost anything written on the subject, and he makes a compelling case. Kudos to him.
P.S. On a personal note, it's been a metric year since I blogged, and ...
Posted in Internet policy, Network neutrality, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
Saturday, March 15th, 2008
In light of Verizon's decision to block text messages from NARAL for no reason other than their content, Public Knowledge has created an online form for submitting comments to the FCC.This is an important telecom policy issue, and it would still be a problem if Verizon were blocking any messages ...
Posted in Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
At yesterday's FCC hearing into Comcast's practice of blocking BitTorrent traffic in Cambridge, Comcast hired several dozen seat warmers to reduce the number of critics who could get into the hearing.
The hearing was held at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. When Catherine Bracy, the Center's administrative manager, opened ...
Posted in FCC, Internet policy, Network neutrality, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
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 »
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
Today, Reps. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Chip Pickering (R-MS) introduced HR 5353, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act (pdf).
For more, see SaveTheInternet.com or CNet.
Posted in Congress, FCC, Internet policy, Network neutrality, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Saturday, February 9th, 2008
In Comcast's new Terms of Service, the company explicitly admits that it degrades peer-to-peer traffic as a means of reducing their network load.
The company also admits that they will kick off end users who use (what they determine to be) too much bandwidth:
The Service is for personal and non-commercial residential ...
Posted in FCC, Internet policy, Network neutrality, Speech, Telecommunications, Telecommunications law | No Comments »
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
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 »
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 »