policy

NCTA TO FCC: NO EMAIL MANDATES, PLEASE

The cable’s industry largest trade group is opposed to rules that would require Internet Service Providers to forward email to the new email address of a former customer for a period of six months. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association said such rules were unnecessary, expensive, and beyond the regulatory authority of the Federal Communications Commission to impose. Continue reading

User Centric Internet

The User Centric Internet (UCI) is a new ISOC Public Policy program designed to reassert, in debates and discussions related to the future of the Internet, the importance of the design values and fundamental principles that have underpinned the Internet’s success.

The Internet Society believes that principles such as openness, user choice and control, edge based intelligence, etc., are central to a thriving Internet and, we believe, will be so for the foreseeable future. In focusing on user-centricity the Internet Society is seeking to ensure that the primacy of the user is not forgotten when it comes to new architectures, commercial offerings and policy making. Continue reading

CONGRESSMAN SEEKS TO REVIVE NETWORK NEUTRALITY DEBATE

Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) plans to introduce legislation in December to set the stage for congressional debate in 2008 on the ability of telecommunications companies to restrict content carried over their wireline and wireless high-speed Internet networks. His network neutrality measure would be part of a multi-pronged effort to shift the issue back into the spotlight. It is expected to include hearings in both chambers. Continue reading

IGF: George Sadowsky reports

By George Sadowsky (Message to Dave Farber)

Having just returned from the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Rio, I must say that the contents of Jack Chang’s article do not adequately characterize the event or the audience.

There were 1300 people who showed up, from 109 countries. Many of the were governmental and NGO representatives. The IGF is not a planning body, as Chang asserts, but a forum for discussion, and it must stay that way. It was set up as a compromise result of the WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) conferences in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005. The negotiations over the summit statement and the terms of reference of the IGF were not the friendliest. Continue reading

INOUYE PUSHES SENATE TO MOVE BROADBAND MAPPING BILL

Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) on Thursday urged the United States Senate to adopt a bill that would improve the quality of federal and state broadband data collection. The Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492) would also encourage initiatives that promote broadband deployment.  “For America to keep pace with the rest of the world in the digital age, we need well-informed broadband policy. But we cannot have good broadband policy based on bad broadband data. This is why I call on the Senate to take up and pass the Broadband Data Improvement Act,” said Senator Inouye. Continue reading

Internet exchange points should be encouraged for IPv6

Internet pioneer and TCP/IP co-developer Vint Cerf has made specific proposals to support the introduction of IPv6 at the second Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Rio de Janeiro. “Governments could consider subsidising the cost of exchange points which encourage connectivity via IPv6 addresses.” This would allow full connectivity within the IPv6 space to be established more quickly, in parallel to the existing IPv4 address space. Continue reading

HOUSE APPROVES BROADBAND MAPPING BILL

On Tuesday, the House passed the Broadband Census of America Act (HR 3919) which calls for the creation of a national, searchable broadband availability map that will allow consumers to find which service providers are available in their areas and authorizes funds for grants to local planning entities to increase broadband deployment and usage on the local level. Continue reading