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
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.”
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.
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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
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
STUDY: U.S. NET TRAFFIC TO GROW 50-FOLD BY 2015
Estimating the Exaflood: The Impact of Video and Rich Media on the Internet, a report released by the Discovery Institute estimates that by 2015 annual U.S. Internet and IP traffic will reach 1,000 exabytes, or one zettabyte, which is one million million billion bytes of data. Continue reading
CRITIQUES OF NATIONAL BROADBAND POLICY
The Benton Foundation today notes a number of recent critiques of USA national broadband policy, or the lack of it. Continue reading
ILSR report on muni broadband
 A new report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) explores broadband options available to communities. It concludes that municipal investment in fiber is a must. Continue reading
California Broadband Task Force reports
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger commissioned the California Broadband Task Force (CBTF) to “remove barriers to broadband access, identify opportunities for increased broadband adoption, and enable the creation and deployment of new advanced communication technologies.â€Â The Taskforce just published it’s report, saying that better, faster and more available broadband capabilities would propel economic growth for the most populous U.S. state, where 96 percent of households already have access to basic high-speed communications. They suggest the state consider issuing bonds to pay for the broadband build out. Continue reading
FIRMS TEAM UP TO OFFER INTERNET VIA SATELLITE IN TRANS-ATLANTIC PUSH
French satellite operator Eutelsat SA and U.S. equipment provider ViaSat Inc. have formed a partnership intended to make Internet access via satellite more competitive. The goal is to deliver faster, more flexible and less expensive broadband connections than those typically provided by existing satellite or ground-based rivals on both sides of the Atlantic. Continue reading
Dublin abandons “illegal” muni wifi, SF “Free the Net” project surges
RTE reports that the Dublin City Council has decided that a plan to provide free wireless broadband throughout the city must be been abandoned because it would be contrary to EU law on state aid. But the Labour Party, which says it originally proposed the idea of a free wi-fi city, has accused the Council of backing down as a result of pressure from the telecommunications industry.
On this side of the pond, San Francisco’s Free the Net project has distributed 40,000 Meraki repeaters to residents, creating a redundant mesh network for free wifi.
From BoingBoing