[Cybertel-Ann] 1.11.11 :: Soft WiMax :: Asinine Husbands :: Comcast Welcomes Investigation :: FCC Welcomes Investigation :: Must Find Excuse to Filter Internet :: Delete Key Removed from Federal Keboards; W Key Replaced :: UnMumbleLimited ::

Fri Jan 11 07:07:38 PST 2008

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Every civilization carries the seeds of its own
destruction, and the same cycle shows in them all. The
Republic is born, flourishes, decays into plutocracy,
and is captured by the shoemaker whom the mercenaries
and millionaires make into a king. The people invent
their oppressors, and the oppressors serve the
function for which they are invented. - Mark Twain in
Eruption

Longmont, Texas, becomes "one, big, free Wi-Fi
hotspot", Muni
Residents of Longmont, Texas, are enjoying free Wi-Fi
while Gobility, owner of Kite Networks, which deployed
the network, ponders its future. Meanwhile, Farmers
Branch, Texas, appears poised to repossess Kite's
network there and Gobility's negotiations to sell
networks in Tempe and Chandler, Arizona, may be on the
rocks
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/muniwireless/~3/214891884/
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/muni.htm

Sprint gets WiMAX soft launch underway, CW
Sprint has started the process of launching its Xohm
mobile WiMax network with a "soft launch" to a limited
number of users in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington.
http://feeds.computerworld.com/~r/Computerworld/News/~3/215012437/article.do
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wimax.htm

Does the First Amendment Protect Asinine Husbands?, IP
Democracy
A possible test case that could probe the boundaries
of the First Amendment right to free speech is brewing
in a Vermont family court. William Krasnansky and
Maria Garrido are in the midst of a divorce and
Krasnansky has put up a blog that features an ongoing,
thinly fictionalized account of his marriage that is
not flattering to Garrido.
http://www.ipdemocracy.com/archives/2008/01/10/#002835
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/firsta.htm

Comcast welcomes FCC inquiry into traffic management,
CW
Company has defended its practice of sometimes slowing
peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent.
http://feeds.computerworld.com/~r/Computerworld/News/~3/214379132/article.do
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

Is AT&T Siding With NBC To Get Rid Of Neutrality?,
Techdirt
I tend to be skeptical when people start screaming
"net neutrality" when it's not warranted, but here's a
situation where it may be worth asking a few
questions. We've been wondering for some time why AT&T
would agree to help NBC try to block the transfer of
any unauthorized content on its network. It made very
little sense at the time. AT&T (in its previous
versions) had actually been one of the big proponents
of the "safe harbor" clause in the DMCA that meant it
didn't need to police the content on its own network.
So why would it suddenly, voluntarily, be saying it
wants to spend time, money and energy in an impossible
effort to police the content shared across its own
network?
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080109/024249.shtml
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm

Network Solutions amends Net registration process,
CNET
Facing criticism, Network Solutions has stepped back
from some elements of a new process to register
Internet domain names.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9847684-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/

The F Root Agreement: Formalized Informality, IGP
The root server agreement between ICANN and ISC was
published yesterday. As "agreements" go, this is a
good one -- by which we mean, it reflects a peer
relationship between ICANN and the root server
operator and does no harm to the status quo, which is
flexible and distributed. The contract, labelled a
"Mutual Responsibilities Agreement" (MRA), constitutes
a massive concession to distributed authority over the
root server system.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IGPBlog/~3/214937722/3459562.html
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/

1-800 Contacts Sues Competitors For Keyword Ads
Despite Losing Similar Cases And Buying Keyword Ads
Itself, Techdirt
We keep hoping that companies will realize that suing
over competitors buying ads on trademarked keywords
will finally go away, after case after case after case
has shown that it's not a violation of trademark law.
However, they just keep coming. The latest may be the
most ridiculous, as described by Eric Goldman. 1-800
Contacts is suing competitor LensWorld for buying ads
on the "1800Contacts" keyword. Again, assuming that
LensWorld's ads are clearly for LensWorld, then there
shouldn't be any chance of confusion and the case
should be tossed out. However, what makes this case
even more interesting is that 1-800 Contacts has
already brought similar cases in the past -- and lost
them decisively
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080110/021037.shtml
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/ecom/advertising.htm

Federal Judge Orders White House to Report on Missing
E-Mails, Ecommerce Times
A federal magistrate ordered the White House on
Tuesday to reveal whether copies of possibly millions
of missing e-mails are stored on computer backup
tapes. The order by U.S. Magistrate Judge John
Facciola comes amid an effort by the White House to
scuttle two lawsuits that could force the Executive
Office of the President to recover any e-mail that has
disappeared from computer servers where electronic
documents are automatically archived. Two federal laws
require the White House to preserve all records
including
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/61120.html
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/egov/

Unlimited' AT&T Wireless Data Plans Soon To Be
Limited? - Rumblings among insiders that plan changes
are afoot, PR not sure
, dslreports
An anonymous AT&T insider yesterday hinted to us that
the company's wireless division would soon be
implementing a 5GB monthly usage cap on some unlimited
data plans. We contacted AT&T for official comment and
were told that there's no changes in store that
they're aware of, but they'd nudge us if anything
official came along. Today we're seeing some
discussion over at Howard's forums that would
seemingly confirm there's some changes coming:
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Unlimited-ATT-Wireless-Data-Plans-Soon-To-Be-Limited-90892
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/att.htm

Traffic to YouTube, other video sites doubled in 2007,
CW
The popularity of video sites like YouTube exploded in
2007, as daily traffic doubled from the previous year.
http://feeds.computerworld.com/~r/Computerworld/News/~3/214506594/article.do
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/media/

Congress Investigating FCC Practices, Questions Of
Favoritism, Techdirt
There certainly have been a lot of questions
concerning favoritism on FCC chair Kevin Martin's
part. He has consistently been for regulating cable
while deregulating telcos. He clearly has a very close
relationship with the telcos, and never seems to
question their motives. That came to a head last month
when Martin pushed forward plans to cap cable growth
despite serious questions about the FCC's authority in
the matter (as well as questions about cherry picking
statistics to support his case).
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080109/115328.shtml
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm

House Committee To Probe FCC, Consumer Affairs
FCC instructed to retain e-mail records for use by
investigators.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/01/fcc_house.html
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm

FBI Not Good At Paying Wiretap Bills, Techdirt
While the FBI has regularly decided that court orders
aren't necessary for wiretaps, it is a bit surprising
to find out that it seems to feel the same way about
paying the bills for wiretaps. Newly released info
show that the FBI often failed to pay its wiretapping
bills, leading one telco to cut off the FBI's wiretaps
until it finally paid up. Given how screwed up the
FBI's computer systems are, perhaps it's not
surprising that they don't have an acceptable accounts
payable system either.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080110/151214.shtml
More Info:
http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/bigbrother.htm

Of Legitimacy, Paper Trails, and the Power of The
Blogosphere: The Clinton/Diebold Episode, Tales from
the Sausage Factory
I like this because it makes so many useful points
about so many important things in this election
season. In particularly, I think there are valuable
take aways about the importance of asking questions
without pre-judging, the value of a paper t...
http://www.wetmachine.com/item/989
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/vote/

Clinton's Fraudulent Telecom Plans, Open Left
Excuse me for a second while I delve into something
substantive.  I've written about Obama's
transformative proposals on media and contrasted them
to Hillary Clinton's 'Connect America' plan to expand
broadband access, which is based on a private-public
partnership model called Connect Kentucky.  Well, it
turns out that Connect Kentucky is basically a
fraudulent front group funded by government grants set
up by telecom interests to advance their legislatve
agenda and lie about internet access.  And what
Clinton wants to do is spread it nationwide.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3182
More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/vote/

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