[Cybertel-Ann] 2.15.8 :: Taking Credit Where None is Due :: Our Fact-Filled FCC Filing :: Comcast to FCC (and everybody else): Drop Dead :: Outlawing P2P No Excuse For Gov't Employee Stupidity ::

Fri Feb 15 19:12:53 PST 2008

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Let us make a special effort to stop communicating
with each other, so we can have some conversation. -
Judith Martin (Miss Manners)

Taking Credit Where None is Due (NTIA Broadband
Report), Global Crossing
With the release of ”Networked Nation: Broadband in
America 2007”, the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (“NTIA”) takes credit for
largely achieving President Bush’s 2004 goal of
“universal, affordable broadband access for all
Americans.” Not to be too cynical, but NTIA’s claim is
akin to Hank Morgan’s claim that he caused the solar
eclipse in Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King
Arthur’s Court.
http://blogs.globalcrossing.com/node/395
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/

Chicago Transit Authority deploys Wi-Fi mesh in rail
yards, Muni
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has deployed Wi-Fi
mesh in ten of its railyards to facilitate the filing
of rail yard maintenance inspectors’ reports. CTA is
the second largest public transit system in the nation
and is utilizing the network to cut the amount of time
involved in making necessary repairs to its equipment.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/muniwireless/~3/234612871/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/muni.htm

Satellite Broadband: 1.3 Million Homes By 2012 - And
that will be just 11% of total U.S. rural homes,
dslreports
According to a new report by Pike & Fischer, satellite
broadband companies will serve nearly 1.3 million
homes by 2012. Given the sorry state of satellite
broadband (strained capacity, incredibly low caps,
poor reviews) that's good or bad news depending on how
you look at it. According to the report, the full
version of which is available for the rock-bottom
price of $700, that 1.3 million number represents just
11% of rural U.S. homes.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Satellite-Broadband-13-Million-Homes-By-2012-91841
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/satellite.htm

Sprint's limited WiMax launch near; wide rollout in
limbo, CW
WiMax products abounded at a large trade show this
week, but Sprint's long-term WiMax plans remain hazy
as the troubled carrier sorts out its priorities.
http://feeds.computerworld.com/~r/Computerworld/News/~3/235120595/article.do
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wimax.htm

White Space and Gray Matter, Cool Stuff
Congressman Jerrold Nadler recently published an Op-Ed
in the New York Times. His analysis is so
off-the-mark, I felt compelled to respond.
http://kennethrcarter.com/CoolStuff/?p=8
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wireless.htm

Johnny Watches "The L Word"; Mommy and Daddy Get a
Fine, 463
Adam Thierer at PFF and The Center for Democracy &
Technology's Sophia Cope got hold of a two-year-old
transcript of a panel discussion at the National
Lawyers Convention.
http://463.blogs.com/the_463/2008/02/johnny-watches.html
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/firsta.htm

Public Knowledge Praises Chairmen Markey and Martin
for Internet Policy Actions, PK
Background: House Telecommunications and Internet
Subcommittee Chmn. Ed Markey (D-MA) is expected later
tonight to introduce legislation dealing with Net
Neutrality and related issues. The following is the
statement of Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of
Public Knowledge:
http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/1394
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

Rep. Markey's net neutrality legislation`, Google
Today, Rep. Ed Markey and Chip Pickering introduced
bipartisan legislation to help preserve Internet
freedom and explicitly make "net neutrality" a guiding
principle of U.S. broadband policy. The bill would
affirm that the Internet should remain an open
platform for innovation, competition, and social
discourse, free from unreasonable discriminatory
practices by network operators. It would also require
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to solicit
input on the nation's broadband policy from ordinary
Americans by conducting eight "broadband summits"
around the country and seeking comments online.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GooglePublicPolicyBlog/~3/234531682/rep-markeys-net-neutrality-legislation.html
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

Congress Gets Net Neutrality Legislation, Consumer
Affairs
Bill would bar ISPs from blocking or delaying content.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/02/net_neutrality_markey.html
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

Markey's Non-Regulation Net Neutrality Regulation`,
Techdirt
As I've made clear in the past, while I believe that a
neutral internet is important to encourage growth and
innovation, I worry that any legislation passed to
require net neutrality will backfire. It will be gamed
by lobbyists and there will be loopholes and
unintended consequences that will cause a lot more
problems than expected. Also, getting Congress into
the business of regulating the internet is quite
dangerous. So, with that in mind, I should probably be
more supportive of Rep. Markey's newly introduced net
neutrality legislation because it's barely regulatory
at all.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080213/122300247.shtml
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

The Markey-Pickering “Net Neutrality” Bill: Grinding
Out One More First Down In The I
, Tales from the
Sausage Factory
God knows I love Ed Markey as one of the true
defenders of us average folks. Time and again, he has
proven himself that rare combination of smarts and
political savvy to remain an effective champion
against media consolidation and telco and cable...
http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1068
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

Markey Net Neutrality Bill is a Step in the Right
Direction, ACLU
Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced a net
neutrality bill in Congress on Tuesday February 12,
2008. Representative Markey’s bill is a step on the
road to restoring a non-discriminatory Internet. A few
large corporate providers should not be in control of
limiting access of users or content providers to the
most expansive marketplace of ideas the world has ever
known. We hope one day all Americans will be once
again assured of the unhindered ability to say, view
and read what we want online – be it a Rush Limbaugh
podcast or a blog critical of President Bush. We hope
to make the bill stronger. Corporate providers seem to
be finding more and more reasons to impose
restrictions on users and content providers.
http://blog.aclu.org/index.php?/archives/498-Markey-Net-Neutrality-Bill-is-a-Step-in-the-Right-Direction.html
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

Comcast Defends BitTorrent Traffic 'Management',
Internet News
The cable ISP tells U.S. officials it doesn't give
preferential treatment to any content, but merely
throttles bandwidth-heavy usage.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/InternetnewsRealtimeNewsForItManagers/~3/234454867/3727846
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast Defends Traffic Shaping, Packet Forgery -
Reasonable, reasonable, reasonable, reasonable,
reasonable, reasonable
, dslreports
Facing an investigation by the FCC for their traffic
shaping practices, Comcast last week quietly changed
their terms of service. While Comcast insisted to us
the changes were an effort to make traffic shaping
more clear to consumers, it's clear to us that the
wording was changed to more directly mirror the FCC's
policy statement on network neutrality, which allows
all but a blockade of competing traffic as long as an
ISP lawyer can justify the practice as "reasonable
network management."
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-Defends-Traffic-Shaping-Packet-Forgery-91822
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast cites John Dvorak in FCC filing--for being oh
so very wrong, CNET
Defending its BitTorrent throttling and opposition to
new Net neutrality mandates, cable operator invokes
tech columnist's less-than-accurate 2005 prediction.
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9871318-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast, Congressman Take Stands on Opposite Sides of
Neutrality Fence, Ecommerce Times
In an 80-page document filed with the Federal
Communications Commission on Wednesday, cable carrier
Comcast defended its practice of managing Web-based
traffic over its network as legal and necessary. The
Comcast document was filed a day after Massachusetts
Congressman Edward Markey, a Democrat who chairs the
House Subcommittee on Telecommunication and the
Internet, reintroduced legislation that would order
the FCC to study network neutrality and propose rules
or additional legislation to ensure the Internet
remains open to all traffic.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/61663.html
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Leave network management to the marketplace., Cable
Tech Talk
NCTA today filed comments at the FCC in the “Broadband
Industry Practices” proceeding in opposition to two
petitions (from Free Press and Vuze) requesting that
the Commission enact new regulation that would
restrict the ability of broadband service providers to
manage their networks to provide a better customer
experience.
http://www.cabletechtalk.com/2008/02/13/leave-network-management-to-the-marketplace/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast Viewed as Great Firewall of China, Peerflow
Prof. Jean Camp points out that:
    This is ironically exactly the mechanism used by
the Great Firewall of China. When China does it, we
call it "censorship".
http://riskman.typepad.com/peerflow/2008/02/comcast-viewed.html
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast Declares War on Consumers, Free Press
Comcast is making a desperate attempt to spin its
Internet blocking. Cut through all the jargon, and
this much is clear: Comcast isn't managing bandwidth
hogs, it's undercutting competition. Comcast is
looking at a future where consumers can access
millions of channels online without the cable
company's permission, and doesn't like it.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/fp_whats_new/~3/234614644/release.php
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

As the Comcast Saga Unfolds, Be Careful What You Wish
For, CircleID
Comcast has been in the news recently for deliberately
"slowing down" some subscribers and applications in
its broadband cable service. There was an article in
the Washington Post today updating the case, and there
was a recent article in Network World that actually
favors the groups filing the complaints and calls for
the FCC to crack down on Comcast.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/82139_comcast_fcc_saga_broadband_traffic/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Richard Bennett & George Ou filings on network
management, PFF
I wanted to make sure that everyone saw the filings
that Richard Bennett and George Ou made this week to
the FCC in the proceedings regarding broadband network
management policies. They are excellent. I thought I'd
clip a few of the highlights here, but make sure to
read them all the way through.
http://blog.pff.org/archives/2008/02/richard_bennett.html
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Our Fact-Filled FCC Filing, Hands off the Internet
Did you know that
.     
 current federal law already
protects the open internet?
http://handsoff.org/blog/regulation/our-fact-filled-fcc-filing/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast’s Closed Internet, Save the Internet
The FCC investigation of Comcast’s violations of Net
Neutrality is in full swing. Thousands of activists
have weighed in, and on Wednesday Free Press and its
allies in the SavetheInternet.com Coalition filed
extensive research and a lengthy legal analysis of
what Comcast is doing (if you have been following the
issue closely, you should enjoy all 100 pages).
http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/2008/02/15/comcasts-closed-internet/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

BitTorrent firms: Comcast throttling is
anticompetitive, CNET
Companies relying on BitTorrent protocol charge that
Comcast's slowing of peer-to-peer traffic blocks
perfectly legal content that competes with cable TV.
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9872464-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Vuze, Free Press Respond to Comcast - Comcast is
'slowing down content when you want it the most',
dslreports
Yesterday Comcast defended their traffic shaping to
the FCC, insisting that their forging of TCP packets
to throttle upstream p2p traffic for all users falls
in line with the FCC's policy statement on network
neutrality. Those guidelines allow a carrier to all
but block competing content traffic as long as an ISP
lawyer can justify the practice as "reasonable network
management." Comcast has been trying very hard to
convince both the FCC and the public their approach is
reasonable, and recently changed their TOS as part of
that effort.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Vuze-Free-Press-Respond-to-Comcast-91854
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast to FCC (and everybody else): Drop Dead, PK
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is about
to learn the wisdom of the saying from the philosopher
Lawrence Peter Berra: “When you come to a fork in the
road, take it.” There are two very distinct pathways
that were sketched out to the Commission this week in
filings on the Comcast throttling of peer-to-peer
traffic.
http://feeds.publicknowledge.org/~r/publicknowledge-main/~3/235798875/1398
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Seventh Circuit considers whether Section 230 protects
Craigslist from Fair Housing Act claims, Online
Liability
Earlier today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Seventh Circuit, based here in Chicago, heard oral
arguments in the plaintiff’s appeal of Chicago
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc.
(“CLC”) v. Craigslist Inc. (“Craigslist”). CLC, as you
may recall, is appealing Judge St. Eve’s rulings that
Section 230 protects Craigslist from [...]
http://onlineliabilityblog.com/2008/02/15/seventh-circuit-considers-whether-section-230-protects-craigslist-from-fair-housing-act-claims/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/samaritan.htm

What's in a name? Cybersquatting case has an answer,
CW
OnePhone Holding thought it had a good case against
Indigo Networks over the rights to the Onephone.com
domain name. A World Intellectual Property
Organization arbitration panel thought differently.
http://feeds.computerworld.com/~r/Computerworld/News/~3/234614687/article.do
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/acpa.htm

GSMA to test carrier ENUM service, America's Network
Operators can now extend the universal reach and ease
of use of phone numbers to a much wider range of
IP-based services
http://www.americasnetwork.com/americasnetwork/Daily+News/GSMA-to-test-carrier-ENUM-service/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/491748?ref=25
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/enum.htm

ITIF Comments on the Midterm Review of the Joint
Project Agreement between NTIA and ICANN, ITIF
ITIF recently submitted comments to the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) on the Midterm Review of the Joint Project
Agreement (JPA). In its commentary, ITIF states that
the U.S. government should continue its historic role
in providing oversight to the Internet’s domain name
and addressing system. The U.S. government has had and
continues to play an important role in maintaining the
security, stability, and openness of the Internet. The
JPA provides an effective backstop to ICANN’s original
operating principles, helping it to operate in a more
open and transparent way
http://www.itif.org/index.php?id=125
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/icann.htm

Comcast Takes The Lead On DOCSIS 3.0 - Most providers
content to sit, watch and wait
, dslreports
The Wall Street Journal discovers that cable's answer
to FiOS will be DOCSIS 3.0. While the article doesn't
offer anything we haven't been talking about for ages,
it does offer up the reminder that Comcast, for all
their faults, is the only major cable operator who'll
be seriously upgrading to DOCSIS 3.0 this year. Even
then, the company plans to have only 20% of their
footprint wired with DOCSIS 3.0 by the end of the
year, though they should have 50Mbps tiers available
to some before 2009. Other cable operators are even
less enthusiastic:
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-Takes-The-Lead-On-DOCSIS-30-91853
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/ipv6.htm

Proposal to Allow IPv4 Address Trading Could Prolong
IPv6, CircleID
The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is
considering sweeping changes to the way they
distribute IP addresses that could allow network
operators to make money by transferring unused blocks
of IPv4 address space to others in need. One result
could be lessened incentive to move to IPv6 any time
soon.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/proposal_ipv4_address_trading_ipv6/
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/ipv6.htm

White House Realizes That Outlawing P2P No Excuse For
Gov't Employee Stupidity, Techdirt
Over the summer, we saw Congress mistarget its anger
over stupid government employees misusing P2P software
to reveal government secrets by blaming the P2P
software. It didn't take long for them to propose a
law to deal with the problem. Thankfully, the White
House is actually pointing out how unnecessary this is
and how silly it is to target a single type of
technology, when the issue is about how people use the
technology, not the technology itself.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080214/191356259.shtml
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/egov/

Comcast Posts Higher Profit - Nervous investors get a
gift. company may buy Plaxo, dslreports
Comcast's stock has taken a beating of late for a
variety of reasons. All the talk of FiOS has many of
them worried, as did the looming (and so far
unfounded) rumor that the company was interested in
making a major wireless broadband play. But the
company's fussy investors got a gift this morning with
Comcast's fourth quarter earnings results, which
bested most analysts' estimates. The company reported
higher than expected profit for Q4, and announced a
new annual dividend payout for shareholders.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-Posts-Higher-Profit-91846
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/comcast.htm

Handwritten Lawsuit Against Google Tossed Out Again On
Appeal, Techdirt
Remember the infamous handwritten lawsuit against
Google from last year? The one where the guy accused
Google of revealing his social security number through
a bizarre coded algorithm that involved the
Philadelphia 76ers basketball team? Luckily, that
lawsuit was quickly thrown out of court, but
amazingly, the guy appealed. Eric Goldman now informs
us that the appeal has now also been thrown out as the
court notes: "Google and its founders are not state
actors, and Jayne's allegation concerning his coded
social security number does not constitute a violation
of the Constitution or federal law." Indeed. While the
lawsuits have been getting tossed rather quickly,
lawsuits like these do still clog the court system and
waste plenty of taxpayer dollars. In the meantime, in
case you missed it the first time, here's one of the
handwritten filings in the lawsuit.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080211/023251218.shtml
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/google.htm

Newspapers join forces in online ad network, Globe and
Mail
Tribune, Gannett, Hearst, The New York Times look to
grab ad dollars migrating to Internet
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-Technology/~3/235630597/
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/media/

Newspaper Giants Group Hug For Online Ads, Internet
News
With circulations falling and ad dollars migrating
online, newspaper companies team to compete with the
Web portals.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/InternetnewsRealtimeNewsForItManagers/~3/235842962/3728586
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/media/news.htm

North Carolina Democrats Go After FCC Chair Kevin
Martin, Open Left
There's some really interesting news on the open
internet front.  First of all, FCC Chair Kevin Martin
is now under genuine political attack.  He's been
setting himself up for a political run with his
current tenure at the FCC for some time, buttering up
powerful industries and acting as a Bush loyalist. 
And so this criticism from the North Carolina
Democrats is a big deal.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3899
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm

House Democrats to Bush: No way on telecom immunity,
CNET
The House of Representatives adjourns without
approving a law granting telecommunications firms that
violated federal privacy laws retroactive immunity
from lawsuits.
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9872969-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/fisa.htm

FISA Nonsense, Tech Liberation Front
I've been reading a lot of coverage of the FISA debate
this week. And I'm getting a little tired of reading
commentary from right-wingers who have no clue what
they're talking about:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techliberation/~3/235597384/043349.php
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/fisa.htm

Quote of Note: John Conyers, Isen.blog
"I have not seen anything that leads me to believe, as
the President seems to believe, that providing amnesty
to these companies [telcos] is a more compelling
public interest than our Constitutionally protected
right to privacy. We must maintain our civil liberties
and give the government the tools it needs to collect
intelligence information, but I do not believe telecom
amnesty is necessary in order to accomplish that
goal."
http://isen.com/blog/2008/02/quote-of-note-john-conyers.html
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/fisa.htm

Cartoon Skewers Immunity, EFF
SFGate's Mark Fiore has blown a hole through the
middle of arguments for telecom immunity. His latest
cartoon featuring "Snuggly, the Security Bear" is more
eloquent than any newspaper editorial could ever be:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/02/cartoon-skewers-immunity
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/fisa.htm

Olbermann On FISA, Tales from the Sausage Factory
I try not to do too many “Yeah, what he said” posts.
But Keith Olbermann put it so beautifully last night I
can't resist. You can follow this link to the video
and transcript, or just watch the embedded video
below....
http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1072
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/fisa.htm

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