From rcannon100 at yahoo.com Fri Dec 5 17:47:03 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 17:47:03 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] 12.5 :: Can We Get Some Better Telecom Shills Please :: It's Not Nice to Fool Filters :: How Much Does Used Telephone Wire Fetch on Craigslist :: Doomed to Fail :: Message-ID: <436717.71206.qm@web37908.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ "The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously." Hubert Humphrey "As a supplicant to government, you cannot afford to bulls?t! Government reserves that right for itself." Anonymous Copper Thieves Threaten U.S. Infrastructure, FBI says, Wired The FBI releases a unclassified report detailing U.S. crop failures, power outages and tornado-siren warning failures due to copper thieves getting huge returns for their crimes. The report, however, is released the day global mining stocks tumble as mining operations announced cutbacks and a 50 percent http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/politics/~3/474186739/copper-thieves.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/ FBI: Copper Thefts Threaten U.S. Infrastructure - Reason number 1,237 to deploy Fiber to the home?, dslreports A 500% spike in the price of copper since 2001 has resulted in thieves grabbing it wherever possible -- even if it's sometimes still in use. That means a flood of stories each year about idiots being electrocuted as they try to strip wire from live utility poles, or phone and broadband outages galore when the thieves target telco poles. In 2006, I was a victim of the flooding in upstate New York, and while people were busy http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FBI-Copper-Thefts-Threaten-US-Infrastructure-99498 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/ The Story Behind The Sprint/Cogent Feud - He said, she said, followed by an Internet blackout..., dslreports In late October, Cogent had yet another in a long history of peering feuds, this time with Sprint, who accused the company of failing to pay and shirking contractual obligations. This was after Cogent issued a press release blaming Sprint. Forbes now has a good piece online exploring the fight in more detail, saying the two companies were both engaged in a "year long game of chicken," that resulted in millions of http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/The-Story-Behind-The-SprintCogent-Feud-99461 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/backbone.htm Steve Schultze on why the AWS-3 spectrum censorship plan will fail, Tech Lib Front I was about post something more regarding why Kevin Martin?s AWS-3 spectrum filtering plan will fail, but I can?t say it any better than Steve Schultze does here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techliberation/~3/474738167/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/waws.htm Clearwire?s Wolff: ?full speed ahead? with WiMAX, Muni Despite what you may have read, heard or thought, there is no chance of Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWRD) abandoning WiMax technology anytime soon. Though Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff did talk Monday about the possibility of adding support for Long Term Evolution (LTE) to Clearwire?s technology mix sometime in the future, in an interview Thursday morning Wolff left no doubt that Clearwire is solidly http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/muniwireless/~3/475144858/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wimax.htm Child Safety on the Internet, CISCO A substantial report called ?Safer Children in a Digital World? was published today by the Byron Review which set up by the British Government last autumn. The report looks at child safety in respect of video games and their use of the internet. http://blogs.cisco.com/gov/comments/child_safety_on_the_internet/#When:17:25:11Z More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/child.htm Fooling filters, BBC Pupils find it easy to bypass school net controls http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/7763268.stm More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/filters.htm Australia's Internet filtering too ambitious, doomed to fail, Ars Technica The Australian government wants to work with ISPs to do nationwide content filtering, but it's highly unlikely that a system this ambitious could work. A look at the difficulties inherent in large-scale filtering inside. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081205-australias-internet-filtering-too-ambitious-doomed-to-fail.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/filters.htm Scott Cleland: Google Using 21x The Bandwidth They Pay For - Paid baby bell consultant ain't gonna let you use his employer's pipes for free!, dslreports If you recall, the network neutrality debate truly took off in the States back in 2005, when former SBC (now AT&T) CEO Ed Whitacre told Business Week in an article that Google wanted to use Ed's "pipes", for free. "I ain't going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it," insisted Ed at the time. The comment confused a hell of a lot of people, given that both Google and http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Scott-Cleland-Google-Using-21x-The-Bandwidth-They-Pay-For-99475 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Response to phone companies' "Google bandwidth" report, Google Earlier this week I thought that the announcement of a broadband access "call to action" was an encouraging sign that the phone and cable carriers could set aside their differences with Internet companies and public interest groups over network neutrality, and focus on solving our nation's broadband challenges. Unfortunately, a report issued today suggests that some carriers would still rather point fingers http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GooglePublicPolicyBlog/~3/-f39BxtL3gc/response-to-phone-companies-google.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Net Neutrality Fans Press for Gains Under Obama, Internet News As a new, tech-savvy administration begins to take shape, warriors for the open Internet hope to fill key positions with sympathetic officials. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InternetnewsRealtimeNewsForItManagers/~3/BSpPZIiXhtY/3789041 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Can we get some better telecom shills please?, Ars Technica Imagine that I proposed to you the following argument. I have (let's pretend) added up all the fuel consumed in the process of getting WidgetCo's widgets from the factory to consumers. There's all the gas burned by the trucks that bring the widgets from the factory to the retail store. And then there's the gas each consumer burns driving to and from the store for widgets. And having added up the costs of all this http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/journals/law/~3/ka3qj5oAfLw/can-we-get-some-better-telecom-shills-please More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Is Google Really Using 21x The Bandwidth It Pays For? , Techdirt Scott Cleland is a "telecom analyst" who, in reality, is actually paid a large sum of money by the telcos to slam Google. He's become sort of a joke in DC circles. In the past, we noted his ridiculously bad math in claiming that Google fleeced taxpayers out of $7 billion, as well as his claims that "open spectrum" is somehow anti-American. His main issue, of course, is trying to dispense bogus arguments for why net http://techdirt.com/articles/20081204/1453233022.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm US Online Category Advertising Forecast, 2008 to 2013, Jupiter Financial upheavals have hit the advertising market, affecting some categories more than others. http://www.jup.com/bin/item.pl/research:concept/1215/id=100811/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/data/ ISP Rankings By Subscriber Total - Comcast poised to be king, AOL totals still dwindling... , dslreports "On Tuesday, ISP Planet released their quarterly ISP subscriber counts. Most ISPs saw little to no growth from last quarter. The major exception to this within the top 5 ISPs was AOL. They fell from 8.1 million subscribers to 7.5 million, a drop of over 7%. They've been steadily http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ISP-Rankings-By-Subscriber-Total-99473 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/data/ NRO Seeing Rapid Increase in IPv6 Adoption, Up 300% in 2 Years, CircleID The Number Resource Organization (NRO), which is made up of the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), announces today that the rate of new entrants into the IPv6 routing system has increased by approximately 300 percent over the past two years. This growth has been helped by the active promotion of IPv6 by the five RIRs and their communities; and developing economies, such as India, are playing an http://www.circleid.com/posts/nro_seeing_rapid_increase_in_ipv6/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/ipv6.htm DNSSEC, Incentives and the Color of Bicycle Sheds, IGP It is the first day of the program of the Internet Governance Forum itself. The first workshop I attended was on ?Understanding Internet Infrastructure.? It could also have been called ?Everything you always wanted to know about the Internet, but where afraid to ask.? DNSSEC, Incentives and the Color of Bicycle Sheds More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/security.htm Google D.C. Talk next week: Opening government to citizen participation, Google This past election brought more people than ever into the political dialogue -- as observers, commentators, voters, volunteers and contributors. Now how will that energy be transferred to the realm of governing? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GooglePublicPolicyBlog/~3/zOs-lN0SFKs/google-dc-talk-next-week-opening.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/egov/ Telecom Collapse, Techdirt Hawaiian Telcom has entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy (see this and this), FairPoint Communication?s CFO is under siege as the company looks for a new CEO and Qwest Communications is cutting another 1,200 jobs as it tells investors not to worry about massive debt repayment deadlines. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techliberation/~3/474282590/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/ AT&T Cuts Staff in Focus on Wireless, Data, Internet News Carrier to reduce workforce by 12,000 in light of business challenges -- but plans to beef up in several growing areas. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InternetnewsRealtimeNewsForItManagers/~3/gzKsegxXeog/3789166 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/att.htm Comcast: FCC Boss Martin 'Intellectually Bankrupt' - The star-crossed lovers continue their epic romance..., dslreports It's clear that Comcast has never liked FCC chairman Kevin Martin. The FCC boss rarely sees a baby bell position he doesn't like (in part thanks to more sophisticated lobbying by AT&T and Verizon), but has consistently been a thorn in Comcast's side about everything from P2P throttling, to most recently, high http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-FCC-Boss-Martin-Intellectually-Bankrupt-99454 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/comcast.htm DOJ Was Three Hours From Suing Google For Antitrust Violations, Techdirt It was pretty clear back in September, when the Justice Department hired well-known antitrust litigator Sandy Litvack, that it had decided that it was going to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google, even if there were serious questions about what harm its ad deal with Yahoo would actually cause. Despite plenty of negotiation and totally rewriting the deal, the Justice Department was set on opposing it, leading Google to http://techdirt.com/articles/20081203/1838283012.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/google.htm Google Bandwidth Study Proves Very Little, Tech Lib Front Precursor LLC released a study that claims to have calculated Google?s total bandwidth use declaring ?Google uses 21 times more bandwidth than it pays for.? http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techliberation/~3/474991672/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/google.htm Lawless Canada Emerging as a Spam Haven, CircleID My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, Ottawa Citizen version, The Tyee version, homepage version) focuses on the state of anti-spam legislation in Canada. It notes that the recent Facebook case has placed the spotlight on Canada's ongoing failure to address its spam problem by introducing long overdue anti-spam legislation. The fact that organizations are forced to use U.S. courts http://www.circleid.com/posts/20081203_lawless_canada_spam_haven/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/spam/ Obama's Online Opportunities, Pew There is no shortage of suggestions to the incoming Obama administration about what to do about communications policy in the United States. The body of research from the Pew Internet Project, dating to 2000, indicates that online Americans might have one more suggestion: Make sure the internet remains a http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/268/source/rss/report_display.asp More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/vote/2008.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RSS Feeds : Fed Notices : Blog : Clips : http://www.cybertelecom.org/news.htm Now Extra Delicious! http://del.icio.us/rcannon100/zxc To [un]subscribe to Cybertelecom-l send mail to LISTSERV at LISTSERV.AOL.COM with the command [un]SUBSCRIBE CYBERTELECOM-L. Announce only list information available at www.lawlists.net/mailman/listinfo AUP :: www.cybertelecom.org/cybert.htm#aup Cybertelecom Link to us! www.cybertelecom.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From rcannon100 at yahoo.com Wed Dec 10 13:38:47 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:38:47 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] 12.10 :: "KGB-like atmosphere grows on you after awhile" :: Message-ID: <620288.15441.qm@web37902.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ Top Reasons It?s Fun to Work at the Martin FCC: 7. Agenda meetings - where will they go, what will they do, and what time will they start? 6. FCC Carolers now sing UNC Fight song 5. More time for margaritas because there?s no need to worry about returning reporters? phone calls 4. Your old boss works for you and your old intern is a Bureau Chief 3. Plenty of time for Golf because there?s no need to work on Wireless issues 2. Trips to Siberia not limited to the International Bureau 1. KGB-like atmosphere grows on you after awhile - FCC Chairman Kevin Martin (FCBA Chairman?s Dinner 2005) Source: http://www.aspsurvival.com/asp/top-reasons-its-fun-to-work-at-the-martin-fcc.html U.K. Internet watchdog backtracks on Wikipedia ban, CNET The online encyclopedia's editing tools became inaccessible to Brits after the U.K.'s Internet censor took issue with a rock band's album cover. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10119879-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/firsta.htm YouTube Attracts 100 Million U.S. Online Video Viewers in October 2008, comscore a leader in measuring the digital world, today released October 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, reporting that U.S. Internet users viewed 13.5 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 45 percent versus year ago. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/comscore/~3/479784305/release.asp More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/data/ Google's 2008 Zeitgeist lists of most popular searches, CNET With 2008 coming to an end, the data miners at Google have compiled global lists of the most popular search terms and trends for the year. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13953_3-10120008-80.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/data/ Comcast Tech Saves Six From Burning Apartment - 22-year-old Jorge Rivera goes the extra mile... , dslreports According to the Washington Post, on-duty Comcast technician Jorge Rivera managed to save six people from a burning apartment complex using his company ladder. The fire, which broke out Saturday morning, injured two people and displaced a dozen families. After the heroic deed, 22-year-old Rivera continued down the street for his next appointment. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-Tech-Saves-Six-From-Burning-Apartment-99548 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/comcast.htm House Panel Releases Report Blasting Martin , PK The House Energy and Commerce Committee has released its report criticizing FCC Chairman Kevin Martin?s administration of the FCC. http://feeds.publicknowledge.org/~r/publicknowledge-main/~3/479688193/1894 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm Congressional report: FCC chair abused power , CNET A report released by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce accuses Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin of ignoring his responsibilities. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10119069-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm Congress: FCC Boss Martin Abused Power - Manipulated and withheld data to influece Congressional decisions..., dslreports For the past year Congress has been conducting a bi-partisan investigation of FCC boss Kevin Martin, sending him a letter (pdf) last August demanding a wide variety of documentation from the agency. Martin's tendency to rush meetings, leak information, favor certain companies and "pick on cable" have http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Congress-FCC-Boss-Martin-Abused-Power-99585 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm The FCC and the KGB -- No Longer A Laughing Matter, PK Over the past couple of years, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin got a lot of mileage out of making jokes about his ?KGB-style management? at the Commission. In 2006 and last year, he used his designated humor speech at the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) dinners to poke fun at himself, including drawing up a ?top 7 list? of how the FCC isn?t like the KGB. Number 3 on the list: ?The KGB is run efficiently.? http://feeds.publicknowledge.org/~r/publicknowledge-main/~3/479867390/1897 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm Public Knowledge Statement on House Commerce Committee Report, PK ?The report released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee will be very useful to the Obama Administration as it seeks to reform the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC?s processes have been flawed for many years, and this report points up some of the dangers that such dysfunction can create. http://feeds.publicknowledge.org/~r/publicknowledge-main/~3/479886996/1898 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm House Report Blasts Martin's FCC Oversight, Internet News Energy and Commerce Committee leadership takes chairman to task for secretive regulatory reviews, some of it with 'he said, she said' evidence. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InternetnewsRealtimeNewsForItManagers/~3/g8SA9Y6pvc0/3790126 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm Congress Slams Kevin Martin For Abuse Of Power, Techdirt FCC boss Kevin Martin is nearing the end of his tenure at the FCC, looking ready to jump into a lucrative industry job or (some have speculated) explore the possibility of running for elected office. We've been among his many critics over the year -- specifically for his rather blatant efforts to side with the telcos, http://techdirt.com/articles/20081209/1223123065.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm Editorial: FCC Commisioner wants DRM, ISP filtering, new job, Ars Technica FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate will soon be out of a job. Given a recent and not particularly thoughtful speech on piracy, DRM, and ISP filtering, that's probably a good thing. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081207-editorial-fcc-commisioner-wants-drm-isp-filtering-new-job.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm House Report Shines Harsh Light on FCC's Martin, Ecommerce Times In a scathing report released Tuesday, congressional investigators outlined a pattern of mismanagement, dysfunction and abuse of power at the Federal Communications Commission under the agency's http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/65442.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm#mar More Votes Lost By Diebold; Discovered By Unique Voting Transparency Project, Techdirt For years and years Diebold Election Systems (now Premier Election Solutions) had always vehemently denied that its e-voting or optical vote scanning machines had any problems -- despite mounds and mounds of evidence of problems. We were shocked, this past summer, when the company finally admitted to a glitch with some of its machines, but the company still downplayed the significance of this, claiming http://techdirt.com/articles/20081210/0114213067.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/votes/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RSS Feeds : Fed Notices : Blog : Clips : http://www.cybertelecom.org/news.htm Now Extra Delicious! http://del.icio.us/rcannon100/zxc To [un]subscribe to Cybertelecom-l send mail to LISTSERV at LISTSERV.AOL.COM with the command [un]SUBSCRIBE CYBERTELECOM-L. Announce only list information available at www.lawlists.net/mailman/listinfo AUP :: www.cybertelecom.org/cybert.htm#aup Cybertelecom Link to us! www.cybertelecom.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From rcannon100 at yahoo.com Tue Dec 16 07:41:36 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:41:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] 12.15 :: WSJ v Google :: FiOS v Comcast in Philly :: Oh Look, Even More Votes Lost :: FCC Cancels Meeting :: Message-ID: <47256.44813.qm@web37904.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ "Ten people who speak make more noise than ten thousand who are silent." Napoleon Bonaparte Philly FiOS Feud Gets Uglier - City council members attack one another?, dslreports Comcast has already successfully delayed FiOSTV's entry into Philadelphia by complaining to city council about issues they care nothing about -- and now the battle is getting, well, snottier. City council members, one of whom is a friend with a Comcast lobbyist, have started taking potshots at each other publicly, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Councilman Jim Kenney is accusing Councilman Frank Rizzo of http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Philly-FiOS-Feud-Gets-Uglier-99699 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/fiber.htm FCC Cancels Vote On Nationwide Free Wireless - Telco lobbying, Martin's problems kill M2Z plan?, dslreports While FCC boss Kevin Martin's plan to offer free, 768kbps wireless broadband has gotten a ton of bubbly press coverage, we've repeatedly noted how the plan was never going to actually happen. There's a number of logistical reasons why, the biggest being that deep-pocketed incumbents don't want the added http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Cancels-Vote-On-Nationwide-Free-Wireless-99677 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/waws.htm FCC Shelves Free Internet Plan, Internet News Facing mounting pressure, outgoing Chairman Kevin Martin cancels final meeting of the year. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InternetnewsRealtimeNewsForItManagers/~3/KB_XAYYUeZ4/3791326 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/waws.htm Martin Abandons Unconstitutional Filitering Proposal; What About Obama?s Universal Broadband?, Tech Lib Front Chairman Mao?er? Martin?has canceled (WSJ) the FCC?s December 18 meeting, when the Commission was set to vote on Martin?s proposal to rig an auction to give away a valuable piece of spectrum (?AWS-3?) to M2Z networks. In exchange for a sweetheart deal http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techliberation/~3/484646441/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/waws.htm Commission Un-announces Final Open Meeting of 2008, CommLawBlog On Friday, December 12, we told you that the Commission had released the agenda for their final hurrah of 2008 (scheduled for December 18) - remember? Well, that was sooo yesterday?s news. http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/CommLawBlog/~3/485575868/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/waws.htm No, Google Isn't Abandoning Network Neutrality - Cable industry uses Wall Street Journal as a weapon?, dslreports With Google being public enemy number one to cable and phone companies for their positions on network neutrality, broadband competition, and unlicensed White Space spectrum, they've been a constant target of attacks coming from phone and cable industry lobbyists and mouthpieces. The Wall Street Journal is playing vessel for the latest attack, pushing leaked information from the cable industry that Google is http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/No-Google-Isnt-Abandoning-Network-Neutrality-99684 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Net neutrality and the benefits of caching, Google One of the first posts I wrote for this blog last summer tried to define what we at Google mean when we talk about the concept of net neutrality http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GooglePublicPolicyBlog/~3/mpx6lZ9Ur3Y/net-neutrality-and-benefits-of-caching.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm WSJ: Google Seeking Preferential Treatment from ISPs, CircleID The celebrated openness of the Internet or Net Neutrality is quietly losing powerful defenders, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to the report, "Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content? Google has http://www.circleid.com/posts/google_seeking_preferential_treatment_isps/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Bogus WSJ Story on Net Neutrality, CircleID Today's Wall Street Journal has a bogus, misleading story claiming that Google has been making deals with telephone and cable carriers that violate Network Neutrality. http://www.circleid.com/posts/20081215_bogus_wsj_story_on_net_neutrality/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm A Very Good Point on the Net Neutrality WSJ Article, OpenLeft David Isenberg raises an interesting point. http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10448 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm The Google Non-Story On Network Neutrality ? And Once Again Why Citizen Movements Are Citiz?, Tales from the Sausage Factory Both Dave Isenberg and Tim Karr have already cast a rather skeptical eye over the Wall St. Journal story claiming that Google is in secret negotiations to get ?fast lane? treatment for its content in violation of Network Neutrality pri... http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1418 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Public Knowledge Comment on Wall Street Journal ?Net Neutrality? Story, PK ?The effort to achieve an open and non-discriminatory Internet is alive and well in Washington, despite the unfortunate reporting of this morning?s Wall Street Journal. We in the public interest community are pleased to be working closely with our friends in industry, and those friends include Google. http://feeds.publicknowledge.org/~r/publicknowledge-main/~3/485891658/1905 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Net Neutrality and the Obama Stimulus Package, CircleID As long as US telecom is duopoly dominated, a neutral Internet is endangered if not impossible; regulation of this kind of concentrated power is necessary but is unlikely to be sufficient. The solution, IMHO, is to dilute the power of the duopoly so that consumers can buy whatever kind of Internet access they want. http://www.circleid.com/posts/20081215_net_neutrality_obama_stimulus_package/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Evolution of the Internet AS-Level Ecosystem, CAIDA Presented at Complex'2009. http://www.caida.org/publications/papers/2009/AS_evolution/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/ Oops - Bush Library Web Devs Pay Tenfold to Buy Back Domain Name, Ecommerce Times George W. Bush's presidential library domain name has been retrieved after a Web developing company accidentally let it expire -- and it apparently came at a high price. Raleigh, N.C.-based Illuminati Karate paid less than $10 for the www.GeorgeWBushLibrary.com domain http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/65477.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/acpa.htm FCC Search Page Goes Five Full Years Without An Update, Techdirt Congrats to the FCC -- supposedly the most tech savvy of gov't agencies, for going a full five years without updating its website search. Jerry Brito, who has been watching the FCC's website for quite some time, and noting how awful it is for a tech-related agency, points out that the search page was last updated on December 11, 2003. Of course, that's not the biggest problem. As Brito notes, the docketing system has http://techdirt.com/articles/20081211/1836593096.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm FCC cancels meeting after warning, CW The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has cancelled an open meeting set for Dec. 18 after two high-ranking lawmakers asked Chairman Kevin Martin to hold off on some controversial items in the agenda and concentrate on the transition to digital television instead. http://feeds.computerworld.com/click.phdo?i=0ce0ef835e813b7aeeb326a36e0d54bc More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm Lori Drew Files New Bid for Dismissal on Grounds that MySpace Authorized Access, Wired Attorneys argue that using trickery to gain permission to access a computer makes that access "authorized" as a matter of law. http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/politics/~3/486112675/lori-drew-attor.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/cfaa.htm Court Halts Bogus Computer Scans, FTC At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court has issued a temporary halt to a massive "scareware" scheme, which falsely claimed that scans had detected viruses, spyware, and illegal pornography on consumers' computers. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/12/winsoftware.shtm More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/fraud.htm Public Knowledge Bolsters Case for Text-Messaging Protections, PK Text messaging services, including the message and any short codes used to allow messages to be sent, should be protected from discrimination under the Communications Act, Public Knowledge said today. Short codes are five or six-digit phone numbers that organizations from political campaigns to TV shows http://feeds.publicknowledge.org/~r/publicknowledge-main/~3/486004184/1908 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/spam/emailpro.htm Oh Look: Even More Lost Votes By Diebold/Premier, Techdirt Following last week's revelation of votes lost in California thanks to Premier (better known as Diebold) and its voting equipment, The Register points us to even more votes lost by Premier/Diebold machines in Ohio. Again, it was only because of a special, rare, spot check, which isn't commonly done with these http://techdirt.com/articles/20081215/0331133122.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/vote/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RSS Feeds : Fed Notices : Blog : Clips : http://www.cybertelecom.org/news.htm Now Extra Delicious! http://del.icio.us/rcannon100/zxc To [un]subscribe to Cybertelecom-l send mail to LISTSERV at LISTSERV.AOL.COM with the command [un]SUBSCRIBE CYBERTELECOM-L. Announce only list information available at www.lawlists.net/mailman/listinfo AUP :: www.cybertelecom.org/cybert.htm#aup Cybertelecom Link to us! www.cybertelecom.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From rcannon100 at yahoo.com Tue Dec 23 13:29:07 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:29:07 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] 12.23 :: Not Dead Yet :: Is it Legal to Link? :: Genachowski? :: Be Nice in Missouri :: Message-ID: <316357.17767.qm@web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ Lafayette Fiber Goes Live Next Month - What a long strange trip it's been, dslreports We've been tracking the deployment of municipally-owned fiber in Lafayette, Louisiana for years, the project being particularly notable for some of the sleazy efforts made by Comcast and AT&T (then SBC) to kill it. Those efforts, back in 2005, included everything from hinting at exporting local support jobs if the deal was approved, to hiring push pollsters to try and convince locals that the government-controlled http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Lafayette-Fiber-Goes-Live-Next-Month-99813 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/muni.htm FCC Free Broadband Plan Not Quite Dead Yet - Though it probably won't be long for this world?, dslreports The FCC's free, smut-filtered broadband plan has been a complicated political mess, involving a startup with political ties to the FCC, an FCC boss nursing bigger political aspirations, lobbyists lying about interference, consumer advocates worried about free speech issues, and a White House that's willing to http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Free-Broadband-Plan-Not-Quite-Dead-Yet-99806 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/waws.htm FCC Free Broadband Wheezing, on Last Legs, IIA Maybe you're an all-out advocate? Perhaps you strongly oppose the plan? Wherever you stand, the battle over the FCC's free-but-filtered (for "inappropriate content) broadband plan remains alive, but hanging on by a thread. According to DSLReports: http://blog.internetinnovation.org/2008/12/fcc-free-broadband-wheezing-on/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/waws.htm CDT Joins Letter Criticizing Censorship of Political Speech at State University, CDT CDT joined with eleven other leading civil liberties groups in calling on Michigan State University (MSU) to reverse a penalty imposed on a student government leader for engaging in political speech while using the campus e-mail system. Using a rule against sending "spam," the university penalized the student for http://www.cdt.org/headlines/1179 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/firsta.htm EFF, FIRE and Others Urge Michigan State to Respect Student Speech in "Spammer" case, EFF The Electronic Frontier Foundation, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) and ten other civil liberties organizations today sent an open letter today to Michigan State University (MSU) President Lou Anna K. Simon in defense of MSU student government leader Kara Spencer. Ms. Spencer was formally warned by MSU and labeled a "spammer" for sending e-mails to 391 faculty members raising concerns about a controversial change in the university's calendar. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/12/eff-fire-and-others-urge-michigan-state-respect-st More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/firsta.htm Three Flavors of Net Neutrality, Freedom to Tinker When the Wall Street Journal claimed on Monday that Google was secretly backtracking on its net neutrality position, commentators were properly skeptical. Tim Lee (among others) argued that the Journal misunderstood what net neutrality means, and others pointed out gaps in the Journal's reasoning -- not to mention that the underlying claim about Google's actions was based on nonpublic documents. http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/three-flavors-net-neutrality More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Policy Hacking the Obama Administration: Wiki White House Event., Sascha On January 9th, I'll be speaking on what is certain to be an insightful and entertaining panel over at Google DC headquarters. We'll be highlighting some of the new thinking over at New America and contemplating public policy interventions during the next years of the Obama administration. I'm very much looking forward to swapping notes with Craig, Mindy, Ellen, and Nick. Should be an exceedingly fun time. Join us http://saschameinrath.com/2008/dec/22/policy_hacking_obama_administration_wiki_white_house_event More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/egov/ Internet Company Valuations Now Below Their Lows From Last Bubble Burst, Techdirt I doubt there's anyone out there who would claim that the dot com bubble bursting was a bigger deal than the current global financial restructuring that's been going on. However, plenty of people (myself included) have suggested that internet companies are more isolated from the root causes of the mess this time around -- and that's almost undeniably true. Last time, a lot of the trouble came directly from overvalued http://techdirt.com/articles/20081219/0331223175.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/ RIAA Caught Lying About Stopping Lawsuits, Techdirt The RIAA and the record labels who make up its main membership keep asking folks like us to "trust them" when they come up with new plans to force people to hand over money. They say that we shouldn't criticize them until the plan is set, but they haven't yet shown the slightest reason to grant them an ounce http://techdirt.com/articles/20081221/1519113180.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/copyright.htm Website Sues NY Times For Linking To It, Techdirt Back in the mid-90s there were a series of lawsuits over "deep linking" practices, where people who didn't quite understand how the web worked would sue other sites for linking to them without permission. We still see this happen occasionally, such as with the Associated Press's ridiculous assertion that various other sites shouldn't link with a headline in a snippet from an article. However, it appears that some smaller news http://techdirt.com/articles/20081222/1835393201.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/link.htm In Which We (Once Again) Consider: Is It Legal to Link to a Website? "Voldemort" v. Blockshopper, Cybertelecom Really? This is still an issue? The commodity, open to the public, Internet is almost 20 years old. The World Wide Web, an application fundamentally based on the premise of linking, was unleashed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee some 17 years ago. We have a waste can full of federal cases supporting the conclusion that it is, in fact, legal to link. And we still have to ponder the dilemma, It It Legal to http://cybertelecom.blogspot.com/2008/12/in-which-we-once-again-consider-is-it.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/link.htm Lawsuit Against NYTCo Threatens Widespread Internet Linking Practices, Ecommerce Times GateHouse Media, a chain of local newspapers, has sued the New York Times Co. for copyright and trademark infringement. Fairport, N.Y.-based GateHouse, which owns 125 local newspapers, alleged that Boston.com, the Web site for The Boston Globe, violated copyright law http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/65638.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/link.htm New FCC Boss: Julius Genachowski? - At least according to the Washington Post, dslreports According to the Washington Post, the leading candidate to replace Kevin Martin is Julius Genachowski, a venture capitalist who attended Harvard Law School with Obama, and was the FCC chief counsel under former FCC boss Reed Hundt. Genachowski drafted Barack Obama's "Innovation Agenda" during the http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/New-FCC-Boss-Julius-Genachowski-99777 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm#tra Prosecutors Charge 7 People Under New Cyberbullying Law, Wired Prosecutors in Missouri have been filing a flurry of charges under a new anti-cyberharassment statute that was passed as a result of the Megan Meier tragedy. But at least one defendant is crying foul. http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/politics/~3/492710358/seven-people-ch.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/crime.htm Why Do Undersea Cables Seem To Get Severed In Bunches?, Techdirt There's just something about undersea internet cables that seem to have them get severed in groups. You may recall the various conspiracy theories that cropped up, at the beginning of the year, after four such cables were broken at about the same time, severely limiting internet connectivity in parts of the world. And, today, it seems like a similar situation, with three undersea cables all getting cut in a short period of http://techdirt.com/articles/20081219/1217283176.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/reliability.htm Deja Vu All Over Again: Cables Cut in the Mediterranean, CircleID The end of the year is approaching which seems to be a harbinger of Internet disasters. Four years ago (on 24 Dec. 2004), TTNet significantly disrupted Internet traffic by leaking over 100,000 networks that were globally routed for about an hour. Two years ago (on 26 Dec. 2006), large earthquakes hit the Luzon http://www.circleid.com/posts/20081219_deja_vu_cables_cut_in_mediterranean/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/reliability.htm Undersea Cable Cuts, Internet Governance, and Lessons Learned, CircleID Early this month I attended the 3rd Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, India. The overall theme of the 4-day meeting was "Internet for All", with each day taking a sub-theme like "reaching the next billion" on Day 1; "promoting cyber-security and trust", on Day 2 "Managing critical Internet resources", on Day 3; and "Emerging issues - the Internet of tomorrow" and "Taking stock and the way forward" on Day 4. http://www.circleid.com/posts/20081221_undersea_cable_cuts_lessons_learned/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/reliability.htm Repairs Start on Mediterranean Telco Cables, Internet News A robot submarine is helping to restore cables on the sea floor that were cut, which disrupted phone and Internet access across the Middle East. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InternetnewsRealtimeNewsForItManagers/~3/27qUaeLOUzI/3792616 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/reliability.htm New York Times sued over Boston.com's linking practice, CNET At issue is the Times-owned Boston.com's use of local newspapers' headlines and first sentences with links to the original articles. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10128600-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/uip/link.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RSS Feeds : Fed Notices : Blog : Clips : http://www.cybertelecom.org/news.htm Now Extra Delicious! http://del.icio.us/rcannon100/zxc To [un]subscribe to Cybertelecom-l send mail to LISTSERV at LISTSERV.AOL.COM with the command [un]SUBSCRIBE CYBERTELECOM-L. Announce only list information available at www.lawlists.net/mailman/listinfo AUP :: www.cybertelecom.org/cybert.htm#aup Cybertelecom Link to us! www.cybertelecom.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From rcannon100 at yahoo.com Tue Dec 30 06:56:34 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:56:34 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] 12.30 :: Martin Pulls Filters from AWS :: Fairpoint Flare Up :: de facto Common Carriage :: Clumsy-to-Clueless :: and we are outta here for 2008! :: Message-ID: <866912.57855.qm@web37907.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking. Franklin D. Roosevelt Telecommunications Relay Services, Speech-to-Speech Services, E911 Requirements for IP-Enabled Service Providers, Fed Reg The Commission addressed several issues relating to the Commission's Internetbased TRS Order, which adopted a system to assign users of Internetbased Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS), specifically Video Relay Service (VRS) and InternetProtocol (IP) Relay, tendigit numbers linked to the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). http://thefederalregister.com/d.p/2008-12-30-E8-30999 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ada/fcc.htm Martin Pulls Smut Filters From Wireless Plan - May have FCC vote again in January, dslreports Just a few days after conducting an interview in which FCC boss Kevin Martin admitted his free national wireless broadband plan was all but dead, Martin speaks to Ars Technica to inform them he's pulling the filtering aspect of the plan. The plan involved auctioning off spectrum in the AWS-3 (2155-2180 MHz) band, with the condition that whoever buys it must deploy at least 768kbps, smut-filtered wireless to 95% of http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Martin-Pulls-Smut-Filters-From-Wireless-Plan-99917 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/waws.htm Martin drops filtering from Wi-Fi plan, FCC meets today, Isen FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has told Ars Technica that he wants to move ahead with his nationwide free Wi-Fi plan so badly that he's willing to drop the requirement for a smut filter. Matt Lasar of Ars T says Martin told him http://isen.com/blog/2008/12/martin-drops-filtering-from-wi-fi-plan.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/waws.htm Fairpoint Flare Up, Next Net Neutrality Flare Up Or Another Misunderstanding?, Tales from the Sausage Factory I am seeing in a few places such as App Rising and Slashdot that Fairpoint is planing to force subscribers to use its webmail portal even if they get Yahoo, MSN, or AOL email. This would, of course, be a major violation of the FCC's ?Four F... http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1424 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Do Transparency and Non-Discrimination Requirements Impose De facto Common Carriage Duties?, Telefrieden No description http://telefrieden.blogspot.com/2008/12/does-transparency-and-non.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm NN Misconceptions, Isen Boy, howdy! Network Neutrality news blankets the bloomin' blogosphere. Steve Schultze has compiled 20-some blog articles triggered by the WSJ's clumsy-to-clueless article. http://isen.com/blog/2008/12/nn-misconceptions.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm My Simple Net Neutrality Fix., Tales from the Sausage Factory In what Rob Friedan accurately describes as an obtuseness so thorough it looks suspiciously like deliberate misinformation, the Wall St. J. has yet another piece on what it imagines the network neutrality fight is about and why the best thing in t... http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1422 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm The meanings of Network Neutrality, Isen Ed Felten has posted a nice taxonomy of the several meanings people take when they use the term Network Neutrality, briefly: http://isen.com/blog/2008/12/meanings-of-network-neutrality.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Australian Net Censorship Plan Delayed Temporarily, Techdirt There's been plenty of protests against Australia's latest plan to censor the internet, but it appears that the reason the filtering plan has been delayed yet again has little to do with tone deaf government officials suddenly having second thoughts -- but much more to do with the government's own inability to get its censorship act together in time. The whole process has been a bit of a mess from the beginning, so no http://techdirt.com/articles/20081228/2301083225.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/intl/asia.htm Sunshine Act Meeting; Open Commission Meeting Via Conference Call; Tuesday, December 30, 2008, Fed Reg The Federal Communications Commission will hold an open meeting via a conference call regarding Commission announcements, Tuesday, December 30, 2008, which is scheduled to commence at 11 a.m. http://thefederalregister.com/d.p/2008-12-30-E8-31141 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm Why Lary Lessig's FCC Reboot Will Crash., Tales from the Sausage Factory On of my favorite die-hard Libertarian writers these days is David Friedman. Part of that is because we have known each other 20 years or so (albeit in a somewhat different context), and it is in part because if he can teach law and economics wit... http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1423 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm Maryland Suing Diebold/Premier For Money It Spent To Fix Its Voting Machines, Techdirt Things just keep getting worse for Diebold's e-voting subsidiary, that was laughably renamed Premier Election Solutions to avoid all of the baggage associated with the Diebold name. It seems that the state of Maryland is suing the company and demanding $8.5 million to cover the money the state had to pay to fix its faulty e-voting machines. You may recall that Maryland has been at the forefront in fighting http://techdirt.com/articles/20081229/0113533227.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/vote/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RSS Feeds : Fed Notices : Blog : Clips : http://www.cybertelecom.org/news.htm Now Extra Delicious! http://del.icio.us/rcannon100/zxc To [un]subscribe to Cybertelecom-l send mail to LISTSERV at LISTSERV.AOL.COM with the command [un]SUBSCRIBE CYBERTELECOM-L. Announce only list information available at www.lawlists.net/mailman/listinfo AUP :: www.cybertelecom.org/cybert.htm#aup Cybertelecom Link to us! www.cybertelecom.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~