[Cybertel-Ann] 2.26.8 :: Comcast in Boston

Tue Feb 26 19:12:17 PST 2008

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             CyberTelecom News  
      Federal Internet Law and Policy
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We can have democracy in this country, or we can have
great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but
we can't have both. - Louis D. Brandeis

Did Comcast Hire Public Stand-ins For Neutrality
Hearing? - Napping, disinterested attendees
mysteriously appear, cheer Comcast, dslreports
The Save The Internet Coalition, a coalition of
consumer advocates like the Consumers Union (authors
of Consumer Reports) and the Free Press, is claiming
that Comcast bussed in a large number of disinterested
individuals to yesterday's public FCC hearing at
Harvard on network neutrality and traffic shaping. The
group is claiming Comcast paid these individuals so
those seats would not be filled with interested,
question-asking participants. Many didn't even know
what the meeting was about:
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Did-Comcast-Hire-Public-Standins-For-Neutrality-Hearing-92178
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast Outrageous again!, Isen.blog
Tim Karr alleges -- and presents audio, photographic
and eye-witness evidence! -- that Comcast bussed in a
bunch of seat-warmers to yesterday's FCC hearing on
Comcast's outrageous "network management" tactics.
Meanwhile, over 100 people were turned away. [link]
http://isen.com/blog/2008/02/comcast-outrageous-again.html
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast Blocks Public Debate at FCC Hearing, Free
Press
First, Comcast was caught blocking the Internet. Now
it has been caught blocking the public from the
debate. The only people cheering Comcast are those
paid to do so. Clearly, Comcast will resort to just
about any underhanded tactic to stack the decks in its
favor. And yet Comcast still expects us to trust them
with the future of the Internet?
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/fp_whats_new/~3/241722204/release.php
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

New York subpoenas Comcast on traffic shaping, Globe
and Mail
Office of the attorney general requesting information
on company's traffic management practices
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-Technology/~3/241736753/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast Finds Innovative New Ways to Block Competitors
(and Critics), PK
Sam Gustin at Portfolio.com has posted an article
about how, at the FCC’s open hearing on the future of
the Internet, Comcast paid people to arrive early and
hold spots for Comcast employees. Unfortunately, a
fair number of those employees never actually showed
up, leaving some uninterested people sleeping in the
first row of the hearing while dozens of interested
citizens were stuck outside.
http://feeds.publicknowledge.org/~r/publicknowledge-main/~3/241723786/1412
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

FCC Hearing Shows Need To Outlaw Comcast's 'Network
Management', PK
Background: The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) has concluded its hearing into Comcast’s
throttling of BitTorrent. The following is the
statement of Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of
Public Knowledge:
http://feeds.publicknowledge.org/~r/publicknowledge-main/~3/241723784/1414
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Hands Off: Expanding Broadband Access is the “Real
Issue” at the FCC’s Hearing, Hands off the Internet
Today, the Federal Communications Commission held a
hearing on broadband management at Harvard Law School.
The following statement may be attributed to Mike
McCurry and Christopher Wolf, co-chairs of the Hands
Off the Internet coalition (HandsOff.org):
http://handsoff.org/blog/press-releases/hands-off-expanding-broadband-access-is-the-%e2%80%9creal-issue%e2%80%9d-at-the-fcc%e2%80%99s-hearing/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast Hires People Off The Street To Fill Seats At
FCC Hearing, Techdirt
We pretty much ignored yesterday's FCC hearing
concerning Comcast's traffic shaping activities, as
the whole thing seemed like a bit of grandstanding.
However, it's fairly stunning to find out that Comcast
has admitted to hiring people off the street to fill
seats at the hearing, blocking out many Comcast
critics who were turned away once the room was full.
Comcast claims that they hired the people merely to
act as placeholders for Comcast employees (since,
apparently, Comcast employees are too important to
actually show up on time and wait in line like
everyone else). However, as the picture at that first
link shows many of the "paid" sitters stayed
throughout the event and either slept or cheered on
Comcast.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080226/144346360.shtml
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast hits the snooze button, CNET
Cable giant Comcast seems to have moved on from its
anti-BitTorrent filtering, and now appears to be
engaged in a fairly low tech astroturf campaign.
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9879848-46.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

NY Attorney General Investigating Comcast - As cable
operator takes a beating before FCC panel
, dslreports
Comcast, under investigation by the FCC for throttling
upstream P2P traffic with forged packets, fielded
questions today at an FCC hearing at Harvard on
traffic shaping. Comcast Executive Vice President
David Cohen, using the stock semantic responses we're
all familiar with by now, took aim at critics by
suggesting that tests showing they forge TCP packets
were "nothing more than a failed experiment." From PC
Magainze:
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/NY-Attorney-General-Investigating-Comcast-92153
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

F.C.C. Weighing Limits on Slowing Web Traffic, NYT
The commission is considering taking steps to
discourage cable and telephone companies from delaying
the downloads and uploads of heavy Internet users.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/technology/26fcc.html?ex=1361768400&en=9fcb0f768ec417c9&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

FCC Head Says Action Possible on Web Limits, Wash Post
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
yesterday sharply questioned Internet service
providers who control consumers' Web access over their
networks, and suggested the agency could intervene
against the practice.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/25/AR2008022502817.html?nav=rss_technology
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Rep. Markey: Don't turn BitTorrent into 'BitTrickle',
CNET
At start of hearing at Harvard Law School about
Comcast's slowdown of file-sharing traffic, federal
regulators warn that they're not taking the
allegations lightly.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9878067-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

U.S. FCC says will act on Net neutrality, Globe and
Mail
‘I think it's important to understand that the
commission is ready, willing and able to step in if
necessary to correct any (unreasonable) practices that
are ongoing today,' says Chairman Kevin Martin
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-Technology/~3/241054272/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

FCC chief grills Comcast on BitTorrent blocking, CNET
Cable company defends delaying peer-to-peer
file-sharing traffic at public hearing, but some
federal regulators question whether the practice
really benefits its customers.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9878330-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Comcast Blocking: First the Internet — Now the Public,
Save the Internet
There was huge turnout at today’s public hearing in
Boston on the future of the Internet. Hundreds of
concerned citizens arrived to speak out on the
importance of an open Internet. Many took the day off
from work — standing outside in the Boston cold — to
see the FCC Commissioners. But when they reach the
door, they’re told they couldn’t come in.
http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/2008/02/25/comcast-blocking-first-the-internet-now-the-public/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Grassroots Support? Or Astroturf?, Portfolio
Comcast acknowledges that it hired people to take up
room at an F.C.C. hearing into its practices.
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/top-5/2008/02/26/Comcast-FCC-Hearing-Strategy
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Kevin Martin at FCC Hearing, Isen.blog
Consumer, consumer, consumer, consumer, consumer,
consumer,
http://isen.com/blog/2008/02/kevin-martin-at-fcc-hearing.html
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm

Court: Section 230 is an affirmative defense, thus
it’s (generally) not an appropriate basis for a Motion
to Dismiss, Online Liability
Erik Curran, who apparently served in combat (Iraq?
Afghanistan?) as part of the West Virginia National
Guard, filed a two count complaint for invasion of
right of publicity and invasion of right of privacy
against several defendants, among them CaféPress.com,
Inc. (“CafePress”). Curran alleged that his image
appeared, without his consent, on a [...]
http://onlineliabilityblog.com/2008/02/26/court-section-230-is-an-affirmative-defense-thus-its-generally-not-an-appropriate-basis-for-a-motion-to-dismiss/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/samaritan.htm

AS Core IPv4 Graph 2007, CAIDA
The long-awaited 2007 AS Core visualization of the
IPv4 AS level topology, generated from a 2007 AS Core
visualization of the IPv4 AS level topology.
http://www.caida.org/research/topology/as_core_network/2007/
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/ip.htm

Google Submarine Cable to Spike Internet Growth?,
Internet News
A new fiber-optic connection under the sea could
increase Internet capacity between the U.S. and Japan.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/InternetnewsRealtimeNewsForItManagers/~3/241592499/3730371
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/google.htm

Pakistan Lifts YouTube Ban... Hopes Internet Stays In
One Piece This Time, Techdirt
When other countries have decided to ban YouTube,
they've done it rather publicly, with a judge or
politician stating very publicly that the site was to
be banned for offensive videos. However, over the
weekend, when Pakistan decided to ban YouTube, it
tried to do so quietly, by simply telling various ISPs
to block the site and hoping people wouldn't notice.
That didn't work so well. As you might have noticed,
thanks to the way some ISPs handle information, not
only did it take out YouTube in Pakistan, but it ended
up knocking it offline throughout much of the world,
generating an awful lot of attention. And now, just
about a day later, Pakistan has decided not to ban
YouTube after all. So for a day's worth of a "quiet"
ban on YouTube, Pakistan helped knock YouTube offline
around the globe, got tons of attention to the fact
that it was banning the site over some mysteriously
"offensive" videos, and then didn't end up banning the
site very long anyway. How effective was that plan?
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080226/091748357.shtml
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/intl/me.htm

Government Continues To Search Virtual Worlds For
Terrorists, Techdirt
A few weeks back, we pointed to a ridiculous report
from the federal government's Intelligence Advanced
Research Projects Activity, claiming that places like
Second Life could be breeding grounds for terrorists.
Why Second Life as opposed to any standard web chat
room? That's not at all clear.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080224/232430341.shtml
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/cyberwar.htm

Senate antiphishing bill outlaws...what's already
illegal, CNET
Not only are senators are proposing to outlaw online
scams that are already illegal, but their new bill
could endanger the privacy of legitimate domain name
owners.
http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9879859-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/phish.htm

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