The Federal Communications Commission today announced a public hearing to be held on Monday, July 21, 2008. It will be held at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The hearing is open to the public, and seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
broadband
InternetforEveryone.org is launched at PDF Forum
At the Personal Democracy Forum this week FCC Commissioner Michael Adelstein announced the formation of InternetforEveryone.org – a new coalition to advocate universal Internet access in the United States. Headed by Free Press, the coalition involves many and varied organizations including the ACLU and Google. Individuals are also welcome to join.
FCC requests comments on plan for free, censored broadband
We previously reported that the FCC plans to provide universal wireless broadband with content filtering. In a press release on Friday, June 20th they request comments on the plan to license access to the 2.1GHz Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS). The winning bidder must use 25% of the spectrum for free two-way broadband Internet service at a minimum rate of 768kps downstream. They must be able to provide the free service to 50% of the U.S in four years and at least 95% by the end of the 10-year license term. Continue reading
Supreme Court to review case of independent ISP vs. AT&T
There’s been some discussion on the ISOC-NY discuss list as to whether a free market solution or government initiatives are best way to improve broadband access in the U.S. Part of that discussion is the question as to whether there actually has been an open and competitive market for broadband services.
A case where an independent ISP, Linkline Communications, alleged that AT&T charged excessive access fees that prevented them from competing in the broadband market will now be reviewed by the Supreme Court. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco had ruled against AT&T but the Bush Administration’s Office of U.S. Solicitor General sided with AT&T, maintaining that federal antitrust laws don’t cover the LinkLine claims. Continue reading
Broadband Policy Summit IV under way
Pike & Fischer’s 4th annual Broadband Policy Summit is being held in Washington DC yesterday and today.
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Why Tiered Broadband Is the Enemy of Innovation
Om Malik, in a GigaOm article last week, suggests that, while newly introduced tiered broadband pricing schemes appear to be a pre-emptive strike on the future of video-on-demand, they will, by stifling new innovative applications – throwing the baby out with bathwater, as he puts it – ultimately become a self-inflicted wound for the network operators.
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Jeff Jarvis Op-Ed in today’s NY Post
In “WAVELENGTH WAR” – an Op-Ed piece in today’s NY Post – CUNY journalism Prof. Jeff Jarvis gives unqualified support to the Google ‘white space’ proposal to open up to community wireless IP the bandwidth freed by the changeover to digital tv. Continue reading
Tim Wu on “the last mile”
ISOC-NY has an ongoing effort to mount a ‘last mile’ event centered around Tim Wu.
Buried in an ars tecnica article today about his talk at NCMR are his likely themes.
FCC wants free broadband service, plus content filtering
An ars technica article reports that the Federal Communications Commission is looking for a bidder to provide nationwide free broadband service. A spokesperson for the Commission has told Ars that the FCC wants it to include “content filters.” Continue reading
House hearing on Net Neutrality today
The United States House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet is today holding a hearing to discuss Network Neutrality legislation (HR 5353) introduced by subcommittee chairman Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA).
Update: Archived video is available from CSPAN. (RealVideo) Continue reading
EARTHLINK TO SHUT DOWN NEW ORLEANS’ MUNICIPAL WI-FI
New Orleans is about to lose its municipal Wi-Fi network as EarthLink plans to halt its participation in the citywide project on May 18, an EarthLink spokesman said Friday. Continue reading
Satellite based Internet for the developing world
Students from the Space Systems Engineering program at the University of Michigan have worked on designing a low-cost system for internet connectivity in developing countries. This presentation focuses on their proposed solution to delivering such capabilities to the rural populations of Africa. In addition, upcoming technologies are discussed that will impact similar missions in the future.
AT&T: Internet to hit full capacity by 2010
A CNET article reports that, at a recent forum in London Jim Cicconi, VP of legislative affairs for AT&T, warned that the current systems that constitute the Internet will not be able to cope with the increasing amounts of video and user-generated content being uploaded.
“The surge in online content is at the center of the most dramatic changes affecting the Internet today,” he said. “In three years’ time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire Internet today.”
FCC Net Neutrality hearing webcast – Apr 17
Pulvermedia’s VON TV service will webcast the FCC’s en banc Hearing on Internet Practices at Stanford Law School on Thursday April 17.
The sessions run from (EST) 3pm-5.15pm and 6pm-10pm. Continue reading
Tim Wu calls for Broadband Czar
In a recent article In Slate, part of a series where contributors suggest policy initiatives for the next administration, Prof. Tim Wu of Columbia University calls for, amongst other things, the creation of the post of national Broadband Czar.
Tim was interviewed on NPR last Friday and will be speaking at the colloquium on Wednesday. Continue reading