An article in today’s Wall Street Journal notes that NY Governor David Paterson has revived former Gov. Spitzer’s controversial plan to collect sales tax from out of state online retailers. The provision, included in the current budget, is expected to raise $70m. Continue reading
government
WSIS event cluster – Geneva – May 2008
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is a joint effort of the ITU and the United Nations. Two meetings were held – Geneva 2003 and Tunis 2005 – that gave arise to a Declaration of Principles , a Plan of Action, then a Commitment and an Agenda. The two Internet Governance Forums (IGF), in Athens 2006 and Rio 2007, were a direct result. A 3rd IGF will be held in Hyderabad, India, in Dec 2008. Before that, however, a cluster of WSIS-related events will take place in Geneva from 12-29 may 2008. Continue reading
Senate holds Future of The Internet hearing
On April 22 2008 the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a full committee hearing on that popular current topic ‘The Future of the Internet’. Amongst those testifying were Kevin Martin of the FCC and Larry Lessig of Stanford.
A RealVideo webcast is available which isoc-ny has transcoded to mp3 for convenience.
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
USA ranks #4 in W.E.F. Network Readiness Index
The United States is ranked 7th worldwide in a Networked Readiness Index in a new report issued by the World Economic Forum. The index is based on a variety of economic and political as well as technical factors.
This is in contrast to last year’s OECD report, based on tighter criteria of bandwidth and connectivity, that ranked the United States 19th worldwide.
NTIA issues statement on JPA mid-term review
The United States Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has issued a statement following the mid-term review of its Joint Project Agreement (JPA) with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
The essence of the statement, in keeping with ISOC’s own position, – ‘Steady as she goes. More work to be done.’ Continue reading
A Framework For A National Broadband Policy (report)
In a new report from the Aspen Institute Professor Philip Weiser of the University of Colorado at Boulder offers a series of specific and concrete policy recommendations for expanding access, affordability, and adoption of broadband in the United States.
Continue reading
Universal Broadband Grants for New York announced
Mar 19: New York Governor David A. Paterson announced that nine public/private sector partnerships will be the first recipients of grants from the New York State Council for Universal Broadband. The funds are targeted to help promote the research, design and implementation of innovative solutions to create affordable broadband Internet access for underserved urban and rural communities throughout the state.
Amongst the recipients were an initiative to bring broadband over power lines (BPL) to Onondaga County and a program to bring a year’s free access to residents of the Mount Hope community housing project in the Bronx. Continue reading
Second FCC Net Neutrality hearing announced
The Federal Communications Commission announced a public En Banc hearing to be held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California on Thursday, April 17, 2008. The Commission will hear from expert panelists regarding broadband network management practices and Internet-related issues. The hearing scheduled at Stanford University is the second such hearing on broadband network management practices and Internet-related issues to be held by the FCC and follows a similar hearing held at Harvard Law School last month. Continue reading
Hearing on Net Neutrality and Free Speech on the Internet
Today the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Antitrust Task Force will hold a Hearing on Net Neutrality and Free Speech on the Internet at 2pm. The hearing will be webcast live. (RealVideo) Continue reading
FCC Chairman Martin addresses Network Neutrality (audio)
An InternetNews article reports on comments concerning net neutrality by FCC chairman Kevin Martin during an address at “Legal Futures” – a Stanford Law School event – last week. Continue reading
NYCBAC Queens public hearing audio
The New York Broadband Advisory Committee held its fourth Public Hearing on Monday Mar 3rd 2008 at LaGuardia Community College in Queens. ISOC-NY videotaped the meeting and the audio has been posted on the ISOC-NY wiki.
The hearing was attended by Senator Larry Pressler – author of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that, amongst other things, established the E-Rate system. Continue reading
RIPE NCC RIS case study on YouTube hijacking
On Sunday, 24 February 2008, in what was apparently a politically directed attempt to block YouTube, Pakistan Telecom started an unauthorized announcement of the prefix 208.65.153.0/24 – a YouTube IP – to divert local traffic away from the site. One of Pakistan Telecom’s upstream providers, PCCW Global forwarded this announcement to the rest of the Internet, which resulted in the hijacking of YouTube traffic on a global scale. The RIPE NCC Routing Information Service has published a detailed study on how this came to pass. Continue reading
Queens broadband public hearing announced
The NYC Broadband Advisory Council will hold the Queens edition of its public hearing series at LaGuardia Community College, 31-10 Thomson Avenue, Long Island City, N.Y. 11101 on March 3, 2008 from 1pm – 4pm. Continue reading