Pro Net Neutrality: Other Voices
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Users to Comcast: Hands Off
December 03, 2007 - link >>Business Week
Comcast’s advertisements have long promoted “mind-blowing” transmission speeds on its broadband system. But the cable giant’s efforts to throttle back some of the biggest users of its fiber-optic pipes are raising fundamental questions about control of the Internet.
The long-running feud was reignited by an Oct. 19 Associated Press report claiming Comcast (CMCSA ) has interfered with particular sorts of bandwidth-hogging traffic. Within days, consumer groups lodged a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission seeking to force Comcast to stop. And on Nov. 13, San Francisco Comcast subscriber Jon Hart filed a lawsuit claiming a litany of charges, from breach of contract to computer fraud. The suit asks that Comcast pay damages to subscribers who got less than the blazing speeds Comcast promoted.
Senator Edwards: Defender Of Net Neutrality And Open Spectrum Allocations
November 19, 2007 - link >>Michael Arrington, Tech Crunch
To date we’ve had the opportunity to talk with 2008 presidential candidates Governor Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain about their positions on various technology related issues. As promised, Senator John Edwards, our first Democrat, is next up. See his PoliticalBase page here.
Last week we asked for your questions and received a great response. Senator Edwards has now answered many of those questions.
Ma Bell, The Web’s New Gatekeeper
November 19, 2007 - link >>Peter Burrows, Business Week
About a month ago, Google (GOOG ) caused barely a ripple when it unveiled technology to filter out copyright violations on its YouTube video Web site. After all, YouTube had been under constant fire from big media companies for hosting unauthorized clips. But now a move by AT&T (T ) to adopt similar technology across its entire broadband network is raising the hackles of critics.
The phone company is in talks with NBC Universal and Walt Disney (DIS ) about embedding a “content-recognition” system made by tiny Vobile Inc. right into AT&T’s Internet transmission apparatus, BusinessWeek has learned. The technology would be used to guard against illegal distribution of those companies’ shows and films.
Critics fear that by assigning a phone carrier a gatekeeper role over a broad portion of the Internet—some experts say half of U.S. Net traffic may touch AT&T’s network—the system would threaten users’ privacy, freedom of speech, and equal access. Up to now, most of the talk about filtering videos and other media content has centered on getting individual Web sites, such as YouTube, to use the technology.
Clinton Defends Net Neutrality Position
November 16, 2007 - link >>Roy Mark, PC Mag
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign said Nov. 15 her long silence on network neutrality should not be interpreted as waning support for the idea of mandating that broadband providers treat all network use in a nondiscriminatory manner.
Two weeks before announcing her presidential campaign in January, Clinton, along with Sen. Barack Obama, signed on as original co-sponsors of legislation that would make network neutrality the law of the land.
Tim Wu, Freedom Fighter
November 08, 2007 - link >>Spencer E. Ante, Business Week
On Nov. 5, Google (GOOG) unveiled what many in the phone business had long awaited. CEO Eric Schmidt explained how the search giant was ready to create new software for mobile phones that would shake up the telecom status quo. A Google-led “Open Handset Alliance” would provide consumers an alternative to the big cellular carriers and give them new choices among mobile phones and the types of nifty services that run on them, from e-mail to Google Maps.
Google’s brain trust was again trying to change the rules of the game. Behind the scenes, they owe a sizable debt to a man nearly unknown outside the geeky confines of cyberlaw. He is Tim Wu, a Columbia Law School professor who provided the intellectual framework that inspired Google’s mobile phone strategy. One of the school’s edgier profs, Wu attends the artfest Burning Man, and admits to having hacked his iPhone to make it work on the T-Mobile (DT) network.
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