From rcannon100 at yahoo.com Wed Sep 10 09:31:47 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:31:47 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] =?utf-8?q?9=2E10=2E8_=3A=3A_You_Cant_Handle_Any_Mo?= =?utf-8?q?re_=22Truth=22_Clich=C3=A9s_=3A=3A_Make_Your_Lawyer_Happy_-_Sha?= =?utf-8?q?re_More_Wfi!_=3A=3A_What=27s_an_=22ARMIS=22=3F_=3A=3A_You_May_A?= =?utf-8?q?lready_be_a_PMJL_Winner!_=3A=3A_Why_is_the_FiOS_Guy_Holding_a_K?= =?utf-8?b?aW5kbGU/PyA6Og==?= Message-ID: <46314.41794.qm@web37901.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ Bart: We want the truth! Sideshow Bob: You want the truth? You can't handle the truth. No truth-handler, you. Bah! I deride your truth-handling abilities. Judge: Will you get to the point? The FCC Can?t Handle the Truth, Save the Internet America is the birthplace of the Internet, but judging by the current state of the broadband market, you?d think we?re a late bloomer. U.S. consumers face high prices, slow speeds and little to no choice among broadband providers. The Federal Communications Commission ? the agency charged by Congress with the duty of facilitating a top-rate broadband marketplace ? hasdone little to improve this situation. In fact, they?ve actually managed to make things worse. http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/2008/09/09/the-fcc-cant-handle-the-truth/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/706.htm Google and Others Back Satellite Internet Project, Aimed at Connecting 3 Billion People, CircleID An entrepreneur's quest to use satellites to bring high-speed Internet service to poor, remote countries is nearing liftoff with a major investment from some big names, including Google Inc. the WSJ reports. On Tuesday, O3b Networks (named after "other three billion people") founded and run by 38-year-old telecommunications entrepreneur Greg Wyler, is expected to announce plans to launch as many as 16 satellites that could provide service to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Latin America by the end of 2010. http://www.circleid.com/posts/o3b_satellite_internet_project/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/satellite.htm FCC to Re-Auction D-Block Spectrum - Public safety spectrum up for sale with more relaxed terms, dslreports There was one section of spectrum that failed to sell earlier this year during the big 700 MHz spectrum auction held by the FCC. The D-Block, often dubbed the public safety portion of the spectrum, was being auctioned under the condition that the buyer must build out an interoperable emergency communications network as part of the deal. Very few buyers were interested in this and the spectrum block failed to meet its reserve price at auction so it wasn t sold. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-to-ReAuction-DBlock-Spectrum-97542 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/w700.htm Wi-Fi Theft May Be Defense in Filesharing Cases -International cases establishing history of successes with this defense, dslreports Two women who were facing court charges in Denmark for illegal filesharing have successfully used the defense that their Wi-Fi had been piggybacked by unknown users and that they therefore are not responsible for any illegal p2p sharing that occurred on their connections. Both women admitted that they had p2p software on theircomputers but insisted that they weren t the ones doing the filesharing. The court agreed that it was not their responsibility to pay fines for filesharing that they couldn t be proven to have committed themselves. This is not thefirst case in which this ruling has occurred. A http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/WiFi-Theft-May-Be-Defense-in-Filesharing-Cases-97519 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wifisecurity.htm Comcast Promises WiMax Bundles - Takes shots at new DSL offers?, dslreports Comcast this week insisted that their deal with Sprint, Google and Intel to offer mobile WiMax broadbandservice should be finished by the end of this year. Comcast President Steve Burke promises the joint venture will offer Comcast customers "wireless data speeds that Verizon and AT&T can't match," and confirmed that the service will be bundled with Comcast services. Burke also took a shot at the telcos' well publicized efforts to bring in more DSL customers. "There'snothing they can do," http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-Promises-WiMax-Bundles-97608 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wimax.htm No CDA immunity for letting co-defendant use computer to post material, Internet Cases Professor Goldman points us to a recent decision in a case where the plaintiff alleged that one of the individual defendants ?allowed [a co-defendant] to use ?a computer registered in her name? to make . . . defamatory statements.? The defendants filed a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, arguing that the Communications Decency Act (CDA)at 47 U.S.C. 230 barred the claims. The court denied the motion. http://blog.internetcases.com/2008/09/09/no-cda-immunity-for-letting-co-defendant-use-computer-to-post-material/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/samaritan.htm FCC Kills Telco Reporting Requirements - Nation's five largest telcos get huge gift from Kevin Martin, dslreports Last week we noted that the FCC was expected to give a major gift to AT&T, by no longer requiring the carrier provide data on network reliability, customer satisfaction and infrastructure investment. Instead, over the weekend the FCC gave that gift to all five of the nation's largest telcos (AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, Frontier and Embarq), with a few exceptions. In order to get approval for the move from FCC Democrats, FCC boss Kevin Martin had to promise they'd continue to require reliability and satisfaction data for two years. From the order: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Kills-Telco-Reporting-Requirements-97566 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/accounting.htm Comcast Wins Lottery on BitTorrent Appeal., Tales fromthe Sausage Factory Yesterday, the Panel on Multijurisdictional Litigation (PMJL) awarded the Comcast-BitTorrent Appeal to the D.C. Circuit. Obviously I would prefer to be elsewhere for the same reasonComcast wants to be there (despite being actually located in the... http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1314 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm U.S. 3G Adoption Rivals Europe, Tech Industry and Regulation Those of you who like to keep score might find this item interesting. It would be interesting to take comparative look at pricing for these services as well. In any case, I guess it pretty much renders moot the discussions about the different airtime charging schemes (caller pays vs. mobile pays) and multiple standards! http://telcom2935.blogspot.com/2008/09/us-3g-adoption-rivals-europe.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/data/broadband.htm Earthlink Expands Presence In California - Will offercable broadband via Time Warner Cable, dslreports Earthlink is in a bit of a bind. The company lost $80 million on Muni-Fi last year, their investments in broadband over powerline have gone nowhere, the government says they can't share access to next-generation broadband networks, and their effort to run an MVNO (Helio) flamed out spectacularly. What's left? The company is stillallowed to offer access via Time Warner Cable's cable broadband network as a condition of the $109 billion Time Warner AOL merger, and for the first time in a while the http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Earthlink-Expands-Presence-In-California-97611 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/earthlink.htm Google bends to Chrome privacy criticism, CW Google has decided to render anonymous the data it collects from its Chrome Web browser within 24 hours, amove that follows concerns raised by privacy advocates about the data. http://feeds.computerworld.com/click.phdo?i=3c216689b54ee44f45967bbbf257b819 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/google.htm Another step to protect user privacy, Google Today, we're announcing a new logs retention policy: we'll anonymize IP addresses on our server logs after 9months. We're significantly shortening our previous 18-month retention policy to address regulatory concerns and to take another step to improve privacy for our users. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GooglePublicPolicyBlog/~3/387565473/another-step-to-protect-user-privacy.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/google.htm Who Knew FiOS Installers Used Amazon Kindles? - Verizon's latest salvo in cable ad wars...., dslreports Just as an amusing non-news aside, CNET notes that Verizon's latest ad for FiOS features a FiOS installerwho uses an Amazon Kindle to schedule installation appointments. Apparently, Verizon just wanted to portray themselves as technically sophisticated (the cable guy in the ad still uses a clipboard), even if FiOS techs don't use e-book readers for appointments, and ironically the Kindle is powered by Sprint EVDO. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Who-Knew-FiOS-Installers-Used-Amazon-Kindles-97590 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/verizon.htm Google-Yahoo deal to be probed by former top DOJlawyer, report says, CW The U.S. Department of Justice has hired one of its own former top attorneys to help in its probe todetermine whether to challenge the Google-Yahoo advertising deal on antitrust grounds, the Wall Street Journal reported today. http://feeds.computerworld.com/click.phdo?i=5df89fd01a19555065881c5fe4391f05 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/yahoo.htm Subpoena to university in P2P case must give time tonotify parents, Internet Cases Plaintiff record companies, using Media Sentry, found the IP address of a John Doe file-sharing defendant, and filed suit against Doe in federal court for copyright infringement. As in any case where a defendant is known only by his or her IP address, the record companies needed some discovery to ascertain the name and physical addressmatching that IP address. But the federal rules of procedure say that without a court order, a party cannot seek discovery until the parties have conferred pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f). http://blog.internetcases.com/2008/09/10/subpoena-to-university-in-p2p-case-must-give-time-to-notify-parents/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/p2p.htm 426,487 Reasons Why Metatags Still Matter (In Court)--Venture Tape v. McGills, Tech & Marketing LawVenture Tape Corp. v. McGills Glass Warehouse, 2008 WL 3959997 (1st Cir. Aug. 28, 2008). For more... http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2008/09/418922_reasons.htm More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/search.htm Wilmington, North Carolina: First All Digital - First city to make move, ahead of the February 17 deadline?, dslreports "With the flick of an eight-foot switch at midday Monday, this Southern city became the first market in the U.S. to make the change to digital-only broadcasting," announces the Associated Press. The eight-foot switch was part of a downtown marketing event held in the city center at noon today. The FCC and cable industry have been alerting the nation's grandmothers that the digital TV transition will arrive on February 17, 2009, requiring those who still enjoy The Price Is Right on analog sets and rabbit ears to purchase a digital converter. The FCC is in the process of mailing two $40 coupons for digital converter boxes to anyone who requests them. Despite the very loud marketing campaign, it's http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Wilmington-North-Carolina-First-All-Digital-97568 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/media/ Steve Jobs: NBC Universal returning to iTunes, CNET Apple CEO announces the feudis over, but did NBC Universal finally get the financial terms it wanted? http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10036393-93.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/media/ Prisons Upset That Prisoners Don't Get Discounts On Digital TV Converters, Techdirt As you probably have heard, the US will be shutting down analog TV broadcasts early next year, as the conversion to digital is complete. For most TV watchers, this won't matter one bit. For anyone who watches TV via cable or satellite TV, the change means nothing. It only impacts those who watch TV-over-the-air and who don't have a digitally-enabled TV or conversion box. So, as part of the effort to move the transition along smoothly, the gov't is handing out coupons to individuals that can be used to pay for a converter box. http://techdirt.com/articles/20080905/0304192179.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/media/ Zillow, newspapers expand tie-up, Lost Remote Last year, Zillow cut a deal with a newspaper consortium to run Zillow ads on its real estate sites. Now the deal is expanding, with members of the consortium and Zillow selling ads on each others sites ? a local real estate advertising network. Zillow is reaching more than 5 million unique monthly visitors - giving the http://www.lostremote.com/2008/09/08/zillow-newspapers-expand-tie-up/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/media/news.htm NYC's 911 system upgraded to accept photos, video, CNET Tipsters can now send images from computers and Web-enabled cell phones and PDAs to the city's 911 and non-emergency hot lines to report crimes and quality-of-life issues. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10037418-94.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/voip/911.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 Sep 16 14:41:45 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:41:45 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] 9.16.8 :: Striiiiiiike Six (COPA Rehearing Denied) :: McCain Invented the Blackberry!! :: Unreasonable Disclosed Things = Reasonable Things? :: Do Comcast emails to Customers Count Against the Cap?? :: Putting Lip Stick on Closed Wireless Networks :: Ike Hammers Texas Internet :: Message-ID: <873019.64586.qm@web37907.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ "I think they put some lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig," ? John McCain COMMISSION AWARDS CONTRACT TO NEUSTAR, INC. TO BUILD AND OPERATE CENTRALIZED DATABASE FOR INTERNET-BASEDTELECOMMUNICATIONS RELAY SERVICE NUMBERING SYSTEM, FCC http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-2069A1.pdf More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ada/fcc.htm Our broadband sucks but at least wehave a lot of company, Muni Another day, another study announcing to the world that broadband infrastructure in mostcountries is not future-ready (for watching YouTube, video chatting and file sharing). It?s not even present-ready, given that many people are using these applications right now. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/muniwireless/~3/391071711/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/ Courts Hand Yet Another Defeat to COPA, CDT Just yesterday we blogged about how the government asked the full 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the decision of the three-judge panelthat ruled the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) unconstitutional ? for the third time. Just today the court denied the government?s request for arehearing. http://blog.cdt.org/2008/09/16/courts-hand-yet-another-defeat-to-copa/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/copa.htm AT&T Again Hints At Bandwidth Crackdown - Peak, off-peak broadband minutes?, dslreports AT&T CTO John Donovan talks to Dow Jones about AT&T's efforts to respond to last quarter's dismal DSL subscriber additions. While the company did add 46,000 subscribers total due to U-Verse, they actually lost 90,000 DSL subscribers thanks to the economy, competition, and according to Donovan - flawed execution. Donovan chats up his company's efforts to correct the losses with new promotions, and his fight against the "perception issue" that AT&T service is slower than cable. However, buried in the otherwise unremarkable conversation is yet another reference by AT&T that they're getting ready to unveil some type of new pricing/consumption model. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Again-Hints-At-Bandwidth-Crackdown-97753 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Does Disclosure Trump Net Blocking?, PFF The FCC's recent Network Management Order concerning Comcast's broadband network management practices purported to establish rules of "reasonable" network management in the context of an "adjudication" of an advocacy group's "formal complaint" concerning Comcast's treatment of P2P traffic on its network. I have written elsewhere about the legal and procedural defects of the Commission's approach that I believe will doom the action's chances on appeal. Here I discuss one relatively unexamined http://blog.pff.org/archives/2008/09/does_disclosure.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm StubHub Wins 230 Dismissal in Anti-Scalping Case, TechMarketing Law Fehrs v. StubHub, Inc., #0801-00515 (Ore. Cir. Ct Sept. 9, 2008). The plaintiff's lawyerhas posted some... http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2008/09/stubhub_wins_23.htm More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/samaritan.htm comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50U.S. Web Properties for August 2008, comscore U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for August 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The Olympics and the U.S. Presidential campaign were the main drivers of Internet activity during the month, resulting in strong gains at politics, sports, news and humor sites. The start of another academic year resulted in growth at education and retail ? consumer goods sites http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/comscore/~3/394527852/release.asp More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/data/ Report shows U.S. high speed Internetdeployment still lags behind, Speed Matters Akamai Technologies has released its second quarterly State of the Internet report, which ranks coutries and states based on the percentage of their population who connect to the Internet at a speed greater than 5 mbps. By this measure, the U.S. comes in sixth place, with only 26 percent of Americans able to connect at these speeds. http://www.speedmatters.org/blog/akamai_report.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/data/broadband.htm Internet Governance Consultations inGeneva, IGP We are in Geneva for a flurry of Internet governance related meetings. Monday morning ICANN held one of its consultation sessions on ?Improving Institutional confidence.? The topic of discussion there was ?completing the transition,? which is about whether people think ICANN is accountable enough to be released from U.S. supervision. ICANN is holding half a dozen of these sessions around the world. In the original documents and negotiations creating ICANN the concept of a ?transition? meant completing the privatization of DNS governance by ending the US Government oversight role. However, the US pulled back from that in 2000 and has since insisted on its intention to keep its hand on the root zone and the http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IGPBlog/~3/394196320/3886882.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/icann.htm Charter To Launch DOCSIS 3.0 Before Year's End - Claims deployment costs are $8-$10 per user, not including modem?, dslreports Charter CEONeil Smit last week stated that upgrading to DOCSIS 3.0 should only run cable operators about $8-$10 per customer, though Cable Digital News says that cost estimate doesn't include the cost of new modems, nor does it include the cost of provisioning those modems. Charter says they plan to deploy DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades in "a couple of markets" before the end of the year, but so far isn't offering http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Charter-To-Launch-DOCSIS-30-Before-Years-End-97756 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/ipv6.htm Confronting IPv4 Address Exhaustion, Potaroo It should be entirely unsurprising that the next phase of the Internet's story, that of the transition of the underlying version of the IP protocol from IPv4 to IPv6, refuses to follows the intended script. Where we are now, in mid-2008, with IPv4 unallocated address pool exhaustion looming within the next 18 to 36 months, and IPv6 still largely not deployed in the public Internet, is a situation that was entirely uncontemplated and, even in hindsight, entirely surprising to encounter. http://www.potaroo.net/ispcol/2008-10/v4depletion.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/ipv6.htm Comcast E-mailing Customers About Caps- Ahead of October 1 transition date...., dslreports For thoseComcast customers who don't watch the news and didn't know that the company will be imposing a 250GB cap starting October 1, the nation's largest cable operator has started sending them an e-mail alerting them to the changes. So far there's still no mention of a Comcast-provided web-based meter, though Comcast has stated they are working on one. I've confirmed that Comcast Internet video services do count against the cap, though Comcast VoIP traffic does not. Several users have sent in the e-mail. A portion of it: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-Emailing-Customers-About-Caps-97735 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/comcast.htm Skype Gripes About Closed WirelessNetworks - Says last week's comments by execs just empty lip service, dslreports Last week saw wireless industry executives pay lip service to opening up their networks at the CTIA Fall 2008 trade show, but it became relatively clear that their idea of truly open might not match up with everybody else's. The carriers warned against wireless networks where any device could connect and any application could be used, arguing that this could lead to a "wild west" where the "customer experience" would be degraded. Also degraded of course would be wireless carrier content, SMS/MMS and voice http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Skype-Gripes-About-Closed-Wireless-Networks-97769 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/skype.htm Malaysia - Use of internal securitylaw is serious press violation, interior minister told - 16.09.2008, RSF Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert M?nard has written to Malaysian interior minister Syed Hamid Albar reiterating the organisation's call for the release of blogger Raja Petra ?RPK? Kamarudin, who has been held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) since 12 September. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28558 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/intl/asia.htm Newspapers cry foul over Yahoo-Googlead deal, Globe and Mail Global association says agreement would reduce the cost of paid search advertising andlower revenues for newspaper and other Web sites http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-Technology/~3/393271362/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/media/news.htm Rising Concerns Over UN Anti-Cyberattack Plan: Could End Internet Anonymity, CircleID Recent reports suggest that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations agency, is "quietly drafting technical standards, proposed by the Chinese government," aimed at preventing Internet attacks which could also put an end to anonymity on the Internet. http://www.circleid.com/posts/un_anti_cyberattack_anonymity/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/privacy/ U.N. Attacks Internet Anonymity -VeriSign Lending a Hand?, TechLiberation Front Declan McCullagh has done some great reporting this morning on an ITU plan to trace the source of all Internet communications. Meaning: no more anonymous speechonline. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techliberation/~3/390719604/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/privacy/ Student Charged With Crime For TellingUniversity Officials About Security Hole, Techdirt For many years, we've covered case after case after case after case after case after case after case of people being blamed, arrested or even jailed for pointing out a security flaw. It should come as no surprise that many security researchers claim that it's just not worth it to research security vulnerabilities, since the risk is just too high. http://techdirt.com/articles/20080915/0227582273.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/crime.htm GAO-08-825, Critical Infrastructure Protection: DHS Needs to Fully Address Lessons Learned from Its First CyberStorm Exercise, September 9, 2008, GAO No description http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08825.pdf?source=ra More Info:http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/dhs.htm GAO-08-588, Cyber Analysis and Warning:DHS Faces Challenges in Establishing a Comprehensive National Capability, July 31, 2008, GAO Cyber analysis and warning capabilities are critical to thwarting computer-based (cyber) threats and attacks. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) to, among other things, coordinate the nation's efforts to prepare for, prevent, and respond to cyber threats to systems and communications networks. GAO's objectives were to http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08588.pdf?source=ra More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/dhs.htm Ike Hammers Texas Internet, Renesys Ike made landfall near Galveston, Texas as a (high-end) category 2 hurricane around02:00 CDT this morning. Today, we are all watching the destructive land-wake of the storm with our thoughts on those in its path. http://www.renesys.com/blog/2008/09/ike_hammers_texas_internet.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/katrina.htm Virginia: Spam Law Struck Down onGrounds of Free Speech, NYT The Virginia Supreme Court declared the state?s antispam law unconstitutional and reversedthe conviction of a man once considered one of the world?s most prolific spammers. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/us/13brfs-SPAMLAWSTRUC_BRF.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/spam/ Essay: Internet in the Sky: Surf butDon?t Call, NYT New technology lets you get broadband Internet service while in flight, butairlines have erected technological barriers to block VoIP, as the debate over public cellphone use continues. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/business/14essay.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/voip/blocking.htm John McCain helped to create the BlackBerry? Really?, CNET McCain campaign aide's boast that his boss' policies helped to create the BlackBerry are prompting comparisons to Al Gore's claim that, while in Congress, he "took the initiative in creating the Internet." http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10043126-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/vote/2008.htm Tales of the Sausage Factory: McCainInvented the Blackberry? Maybe Not, But It May Make A Good Symbol., Tales from the Sausage Factory I know that staffers often feel intense loyalty to their bosses, but can we please try tokeep the hero worship to a minimum? Otherwise, you end up accidentally making the other side's argument. According to this story, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a ... http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1323 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 Thu Sep 18 07:20:45 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:20:45 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] 9.18 :: Putting Lipstick on DSL Prices :: Revolving Door at FCC makes fun playground feature :: Palin's Yahoo account hacked :: McCain Invented the Telegraph! :: So, how is your AIG stock doing? :: Message-ID: <190925.64554.qm@web37908.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ I thank God, there are no free-schools, nor printing; and I hope we shall not have these [for a] hundred years, for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both!? ? William Berkeley, Royal Governor Virginia, 1671 (quoted in Paul Starr, The Creation of the Media). AT&T Drops DSL Price, But Not Really - As free Wi-Fi expands to include telco's slowest tier?, dslreports AT&T is getting some press today (Atlanta Journal Constitution, San Antonio Business Journal) for reducing the price of their 768kbps DSL Lite tier from $19.95 to $14.95 in Southern markets. Interestingly, neither news outlet bothers to mention that you're already supposed to be able to order that same tier for $10, as a condition (pdf) of the AT&T BellSouth merger. Unfortunately for consumers, while AT&T was forced to provide the tier for two years, they were under no obligation to advertise it or make it easy to sign up for. CEO Randall Stephenson has previously denied that the $10 tier is hard to http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Drops-DSL-Price-But-Not-Really-97803 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/dsl.htm Plane porn: who wants it?, CNET Why would anyone actually WANT to watch porn on a plane? http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10045099-71.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wifi.htm Filtering on Planes, or Why I Will Only Take Amtrak, Info Law American Airlines is testing in-flight wi-fi Internet access, and flight attendants want something to be done to prevent passengers from looking at naughty things in flight. (?something? = filter the content). This brings back some funny travel memories from my days in consulting, such as seeing someone on a flight to Toronto openly reading Playboy, and a women?s rugby team passing a pornographic magazine back and forth around the cabin. The point: porn on planes isn?t new, and yet the Republic remains strong. Filtering is a dumb idea here, for three reasons. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/infolaw/2008/09/16/filtering-on-planes-or-why-i-will-only-take-amtrak/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wifi.htm ESPN's ISP discrimination shakes Net neutrality hornet's nest, CNET ESPN through its selective blocking of people from particular Internet service providers, may very well wake the sleeping giant that is Net neutrality. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13739_3-10043040-46.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for August 2008, comscore top online properties for August 2008 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The Olympics and the U.S. Presidential campaign were the main drivers of Internet activity during the month, resulting in strong gains at politics, sports, news and humor http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/comscore/~3/394527852/release.asp More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/data/ Bill Moves Forward To Re-Legalize Online Poker, Techdirt Looks like having poker lobbyists setting poker tables at both presidential conventions this year was effective. A new bill is successfully moving its way through Congress that would effectively re-legalize online poker, reversing a law passed two years ago that made it illegal for financial institutions to accept payment for online gambling (all in the name of national security, of course). http://techdirt.com/articles/20080918/0229432304.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ecom/gambling.htm Senate Passes E-Government Act Reauthorization, CDT For five years, the E-Government Act has promoted improvements in the federal government's use of information technology, including increased transparency for government information. The Senate is expected to pass the E-Government Reauthorization Act of 2007 by unanimous consent later tonight. CDT believes that the reauthorization includes two key improvements to the E-Government Act in a call http://www.cdt.org/headlines/1158 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/egov/ AT&T Presents Their Version Of Wireless History - Opinion: new 'pro-consumer' portal sure to entertain, delight...., dslreports AT&T today announced a new, "consumer focused" portal aimed at showing just how utterly fantastic the nation's biggest phone company has been at implementing pro-consumer wireless policies. The fancy new site comes complete with a hired actor who'll "educate" you on AT&T's version of wireless history since 1983, saving you from the pesky task of studying history yourself. While AT&T certainly has done a great job in allowing users to swap out SIM cards, their interpretation of telecom http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Presents-Their-Version-Of-Wireless-History-97807 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/att.htm Facts about our Yahoo! ad deal and ad prices, Google As Hal Varian wrote earlier this week, there's been some recent discussion about the impact of our recent advertising agreement with Yahoo!. While Hal addressed a recent study about the deal's potential imapct, today I wanted to address of a few of the questions that advertisers and others have raised about the deal's impact on ad prices. Here are the facts: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GooglePublicPolicyBlog/~3/396175025/facts-about-our-yahoo-ad-deal-and-ad.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/google.htm Revolving Door Undermines FCC's Watchdog Role, Techdirt In previous installments of my series on network neutrality, I've pointed out that the end-to-end principle is not as fragile as a lot of people assume. Technological platforms have a kind of momentum that make them hard to change once they've become established, and so it's not at all obvious that major broadband providers have the ability to significantly change the Internet's architecture. In my view, this is one reason to be skeptical of making the FCC the nation's network neutrality cop. http://techdirt.com/articles/20080831/0618342133.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/fcc.htm Critics: Homeland Security unprepared for cyberthreats, CNET Some Washingtonians are rethinking the idea that DHS can handle cybersecurity, saying it has proven to be inefficient, bureaucratic, and unable even to monitor federal networks well. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10043665-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/dhs.htm Net outage widest since 2003, Globe and Mail Internet connections in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania were the hardest hit by blackouts that followed Hurricane Ike http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-Technology/~3/395581138/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/katrina.htm Ike Brings Biggest Multi-State Internet Outage since 2003, Renesys Ike swept across Texas on Saturday, devastating Galveston and severely damaging Houston and Harris County before plodding intensely north and east through Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. While many Texan networks remain unreachable, the recovery is proceeding remarkably quickly. From a peak of around 100 networks suffering outage through Monday, Ohio, still hard hit, is also slowly starting to recover. And Pennsylvania is the latest victim of Ike. http://www.renesys.com/blog/2008/09/ike_brings_biggest_multistate.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/katrina.htm Hack of Palin e-mail makes case for sticking with .gov account, Ars Technica Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account was hacked earlier this week, and information from the compromised account was released on the Internet, adding security worries to transparency concerns about the use of unofficial accounts for government business. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080917-palin-e-mail-hack-makes-case-for-sticking-with-gov-e-mail.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/vote/2008.htm McCain BlackBerry Easily Connects With Gore Internet, Wash Post The campaign of Sen. John McCain wanted to be clear yesterday: The Arizona Republican did not help create the BlackBerry. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wp-dyn/rss/technology/index_xml/~3/XaEPuQQjnBA/AR2008091603226.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/vote/2008.htm Hackers Access Palin's Personal E-Mail, Post Some Online, Wash Post A group of computer hackers said yesterday that they had accessed a Yahoo e-mail account of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, publishing some of her private communications to expose what appeared to be her use of a personal account for government business. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wp-dyn/rss/technology/index_xml/~3/4QjfujKMVFc/AR2008091703304.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/vote/2008.htm Gov. Palin's Yahoo Email Account Hacked, EFF Last night, someone apparently obtained access to the Yahoo! email account of Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for Vice President. Screenshots of Gov. Palin's email account are now widely available on the sites such as Wikileaks and Gawker. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/09/gov-palins-yahoo-email-account-hacked 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 Fri Sep 19 07:40:57 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:40:57 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] 9.19.8 :: Will Comcast put Lipstick on a Pig (okay, I'll stop already) :: PK Sues :: EFF Sues :: That Attorney Who Challenges the RIAA Gets Sued :: Message-ID: <776369.35719.qm@web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ "Mosaic was a side project that one of my colleagues and I started in our spare time, for several reasons: One, we didn?t think the real project we were working on at the time was going to go anywhere. And, two, all this interesting stuff was happening on the Internet. And so we basically said to ourselves, you know, if a lot of people are going to connect to the Internet, if only because of e-mail, and if all the P.C.?s are going to be going graphical, then you?ve got this whole new world where you?re going to have a lot of graphical P.C.?s on the Internet. Somebody should build a program that lets you access any of these Internet services from a single graphical program." Marc Andreessen, quoted in Vanity Fair July 2008 The Wall Street Lesson for Net Neutrality, CircleID As the institutions of Wall Street continue to crumble one after another, there's a lesson to be learned for those of us who want to make sure the Internet remains as free and open in the future as it has been in the past. http://www.circleid.com/posts/89182_wall_street_lesson_net_neutrality/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm What Will Comcast Do Today? First Compliance Check On Comcast/BitTorrent Order., Tales from the Sausage Factory Back on August 20, the FCC released its Order resolving the complaint against Comcast for blocking P2P protocols. As part of the remedy, the FCC ordered Comcast to provide a full report on its current ?network management practices? wi... http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1326 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm RIAA Takes Aim At Attorney Who's Beaten Them - Demands that troublemaking blogger/attorney be punished?, dslreports Over the last few years, attorney Ray Beckerman has been defending broadband users accused of copyright infringement by the RIAA, and frequently blogs about it. Beckerman was the attorney who defended Oregon mother Tanya Andersen, who beat the RIAA in court and got them to begrudgingly pay her legal fees of $108,000. The RIAA is now targeting Beckerman, claiming he's a "vexatious" http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/RIAA-Takes-Aim-At-Attorney-Whos-Beaten-Them-97818 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/p2p.htm PK, EFF, Sue for ACTA Documents, PK Several weeks ago, PK and EFF asked the US Trade Representative to turn over documents on ACTA, the international agreement on counterfeiting that still hasn?t been made public yet. After some back-and-forth, and even after narrowing the scope of the request, we still have yet to receive any documents from USTR, as required under the Freedom of Information Act. http://feeds.publicknowledge.org/~r/publicknowledge-main/~3/396261568/1745 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/p2p.htm U.S. Trade Office Withholds Documents on Secret IP Enforcement Treaty, EFF The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Knowledge have filed suit against the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), demanding information about a secret intellectual property enforcement treaty that the government has put on a fast track to completion. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/09/17 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/p2p.htm EFF Sues NSA, President Bush, and Vice President Cheney to Stop Illegal Surveillance, EFF The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies today on behalf of AT&T customers to stop the illegal, unconstitutional, and ongoing dragnet surveillance of their communications and communications records. The five individual plaintiffs are also suing President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney's chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and other individuals who ordered or participated in the warrantless domestic surveillance. http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2008/09/17-0 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/bigbrother.htm EFF Sues The Gov't Twice In One Day: Over Surveillance And ACTA, Techdirt The EFF sure has been busy today. First it filed a lawsuit against the US Trade Representative for keeping info on the ACTA negotiations secret, and then it sued the NSA, President Bush and Vice President Cheney over the warrantless wiretapping issue. Must be a busy day at the EFF office. In both cases, it seems likely that the lawsuits may draw some additional attention to the issues, but it seems unlikely to have much of an impact on actual government policies. http://techdirt.com/articles/20080918/1152472307.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/bigbrother.htm DOJ View on Email Privacy May Hamper Prosecution of Palin Hackers, EFF On Wednesday, some hackers apparently obtained unauthorized access to Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo! email account by posing as Gov. Palin and getting a new password (Michelle Malkin and Wired News have details). Yesterday we noted that, based on the facts in newspaper reporting, a court would likely consider this a violation of the Stored Communications Act (SCA). http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/09/doj-view-email-privacy-may-hamper-prosecution-pali More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/crime.htm People Finally Realizing That SMS Isn't Good For Emergency Alerts, Techdirt Only two years or so after we questioned why anyone would seriously consider the notoriously unreliable SMS text messaging system for emergency alerts, the mobile trade group 3G Americas has released a research report stating the same thing. Basically, the system isn't reliable or efficient, and in an emergency is likely to get overloaded quickly. It's not clear why it took anyone until now to notice this, but hopefully no one was seriously considering using SMS for emergency alerts. http://techdirt.com/articles/20080918/0218462303.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/eas.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 Sep 24 08:06:38 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:06:38 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] 9.24.8 :: Dont Link to Jones Day :: Dont Blog Bad Things about Principals in the Blue Mountain School District :: Dont Hack a Prez Candidate from Your Dorm Room :: Message-ID: <613847.20274.qm@web37903.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ Once upon a time you dressed so fine You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didnt you? Peopled call, say, beware doll, youre bound to fall You thought they were all kiddin you You used to laugh about Everybody that was hangin out Now you dont talk so loud Now you dont seem so proud About having to be scrounging for your next meal. - Bob Dylan, Rolling Stone, http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/rolling-stone Muni Wi-Fi in Iraq, Muni A wide-area Wi-Fi network has been deployed at the Joint Base Balad in Iraq to serve over US military personnel stationed there. It is scheduled to be complete by November 2008. The network operator charges $60 per month for 256Kbps (down) and 128 Kbps (up), and uses satellite as backhaul. At present the network has over 1000 users; it is designed to reach over 20,000. The network uses Aruba http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/muniwireless/~3/400856517/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/muni.htm Verizon Has No Plans To Cap, Throttle - Fiber gives them breathing room -- For the moment, dslreports When asked to comment on other ISP cap plans, Verizon has noted that the higher bandwidth provided by running fiber to the home doesn't make that a worry for them at the moment. I've asked Verizon in the past if the telco plans to implement caps or metered billing, and they've chosen their words carefully, making sure they don't rule out the possibility. Verizon this week was a little more specific when http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Verizon-Has-No-Plans-To-Cap-Throttle-97950 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/neutralnm.htm FCC Tests Dismiss Smut-Free Wireless Worries - Interference claimed by T-Mobile appears to be nonexistent?, dslreports FCC boss Kevin Martin and M2Z Networks' plan for a smut-censored free national wireless service recently ran into opposition from T-Mobile, who claimed that the technology being used (Time Division Duplex (TDD)) caused interference. This claim was made despite the fact that T-Mobile has used this same technology extensively overseas, and was generally seen as a transparent effort to derail the http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/FCC-Tests-Dismiss-SmutFree-Wireless-Worries-97931 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/waws.htm Judge Says School Can Suspend Student For Fake MySpace Page Of Principal, Techdirt Just about a month ago we wrote about a principal losing a lawsuit against some students for posting a fake MySpace page pretending to be the principal. However, in a different case, a court has ruled that a school has every right to suspend students for creating a fake MySpace page of a principal. The two cases are different in a few ways, as the first one involved the principal suing the student, rather than just suspending the student. That said, the ruling by the court in this case seems problematic, and I'd be surprised if it was upheld on appeal (assuming the student appeals). The Supreme Court's famous Tinker http://techdirt.com/articles/20080917/0245292290.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/cda/firsta.htm Carterfone and Open Access in the Digital Era Symposium, October 17, Tech & Marketing Law On October 17, we are having a neat event at Santa Clara University. A brief word about... http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2008/09/carterfone_and.htm More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/cpe.htm ESPN360.Com Locks Up It's Content ? Let The Fragmentation Games Begin!, Tales from the Sausage Factory There's been a lot of back and forth over whether letting broadband providers lock up content, or content providers lock out ISPs, is a good thing or a bad thing. And now, ESPN360.Com is going to kick off the fragmentation games and let us all fi... http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1324 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm I Am Pleasantly Surprised By Comcast Complaince, But Am Still Nasty And Suspicious By Nature., Tales from the Sausage Factory Well, after saying that while Comcast might fully comply with the FCC's requirement to report on September 19, but I expected them to play games instead, Comcast handed me a very pleasant surprise. Not only do they appear to have made a thorough ... http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1330 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm Comcast Unveils Its New Traffic Management Architecture, EFF Late on Friday night, Comcast filed an overview of its new traffic management arrangements with the FCC. This is the long term replacement for its controversial practice of using forged TCP Reset packets to limit the use of peer to peer protocols. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/09/comcast-unveils-its-new-traffic-management-archite More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm Evaluation of the Comcast/BitTorrent Filing ? Really Excellent, Except For The Gapping Hole?, Tales from the Sausage Factory After Comcast surprised me with their filing on Friday, I really wanted to believe they had turned a corner. Not to anthropomorphize too much, but I had hoped that Comcast had gotten such a bad public relations disaster out of this that they were... http://www.wetmachine.com/item/1333 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm Comcast Says No One Has Complained About Its New Traffic Slowing Efforts, Techdirt Last month, Comcast, in addition to finally revealing the broadband caps it had always had, admitted that it was going to test a system where it slowed down traffic for heavy users in congested areas -- effectively, sending their internet traffic to the back of the line. The company is now claiming that this plan is a success because in five trials there were no complaints about slower traffic. Of course, what the company means is that there were no direct complaints to the company. They don't know if people were pissed off and off shopping for competitive services (if any actually exist), or were complaining to friends or in online forums. Having dealt with Comcast customer service, and after seeing how Comcast (falsely) denied its traffic shaping efforts for months, perhaps customers impacted by this new syste http://techdirt.com/articles/20080922/0252232326.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm U.S. Government Begins Largest Deployment of DNSSEC, CircleID untied States government has launched an extensive deployment of DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) on the .gov top-level domain, and some expect that once that rollout is complete, banks and other businesses might be encouraged to follow suit for their sites. http://www.circleid.com/posts/us_government_largest_dnssec_deployment/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/security.htm Comcast v. FCC: Now what?, Tech Liberation Front A divided FCC recently issued an order concluding that Comcast acted discriminatorily and arbitrarily to squelch the dynamic benefits of an open and accessible Internet, and that its failure to disclose its practices to its customers has compounded the harm. The commission does get a bit excited sometimes. Anyway, the FCC required Comcast to end its network management practices and submit a compliance plan. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/techliberation/~3/401458281/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/comcast.htm Comcast: Users to Get 'Fair Share' of Bandwidth, Internet News After coming under fire for throttling high-bandwidth activities, the ISP giant details new policies for managing its network. http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InternetnewsRealtimeNewsForItManagers/~3/tOHBf-1vIBI/3773081 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/industry/comcast.htm Malaysia Jails Blogger For Two Years Without Trial, Techdirt We've been trying to follow the situation with the government crackdown on opposition bloggers in Malaysia, and with different stories coming out every day, it got a little confusing. So when we wrote about a blogger being released following a public outcry, it was actually a different blogger than the original one we had reported as arrested. It now turns out that the original blogger has actually been immediately sentenced to two years in jail without any trial -- and those two years can be extended indefinitely at will by the government. As for the other blogger who was released, apparently that's just a http://techdirt.com/articles/20080923/1125352347.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/intl/asia.htm China - Detained cyber-dissident Huang Qi finally allowed to see his lawyer - 24.09.2008, RSF Reporters Without Borders is very worried about detained cyber-dissident Huang Qi, who was able to see his lawyer, Mo Shaoping, yesterday for the first time since his arrest on 10 June in Chengdu, in the western province of Sichuan. Until yesterday, the authorities had refused to allow any visit by his lawyer. http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28695 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/intl/china.htm EFF: claim that consent needed for linking is "preposterous", Ars Technica A pair of public interest groups have weighed in on the curious case of BlockShopper, a tiny Chicago firm that has angered Windy City lawyers Jones Day. The law firm used trademark law to file a lawsuit, in part over BlockShopper's links to the firm's web site, but EFF and Public Citizen say that the case is nothing but hot air. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080923-eff-claim-that-consent-needed-for-linking-is-preposterous.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/link.htm Palin hacker's IP address linked to Tennessee college dorm, Ars Technica More details emerge on the identity of the person responsible for hacking into Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080922-palin-hackers-ip-address-linked-to-tennessee-college-dorm.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/security/hacker.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 Sep 30 13:26:11 2008 From: rcannon100 at yahoo.com (Robert Cannon) Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:26:11 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Cybertel-Ann] 9.30.8 :: Raven about WiMax :: You Just Dont Know the Value of a Megabyte :: Mapping Broadband Caps :: Message-ID: <510338.89632.qm@web37904.mail.mud.yahoo.com> ============================================ CyberTelecom News Federal Internet Law and Policy ============================================ When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -Hunter S. Thompson FCC ANNOUNCES NOVEMBER MEETING ON BROADBAND POLICY TO BE HELD BY THE FEDERAL-STATE JOINT CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED SERVICES. News Release. News Media Contact: Robert Kenny, FCC The Federal Communications Commission today announced that the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services will hold a meeting on broadband policy Thursday, November 6, 2008 at the Wireless Communications Association International?s 14th Annual Symposium and Business Expo at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California (additional details about the meeting will be made public in the near future) http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-285684A1.doc More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/ Congress finally passes broadband data collection bill, Ars Technica Days before recessing for the year, the Senate has at last passed the Broadband Data Improvement Act. It directs the FCC to gather far more detailed (and useful) information about the US broadband market, including better deployment maps and price information. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080929-congress-finally-passes-broadband-data-collection-bill.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/706.htm Pass Legislation to Promote Broadband Deployment!, Verizon Last night during the first presidential debate, Senator Barack Obama included the deployment of broadband technology to all Americans as one of the economic priorities he would establish if he became President. Senator John McCain supports the deployment of broadband technology and calls it a ?top priority? to ensure deployment as widely as possible. All year, both house of Congress have http://policyblog.verizon.com/PolicyBlog/Blogs/policyblog//537/Pass-Legislation-to-Promote-Broadband-Deployment-.aspx#When:16:32:18.2230000-04:00EST More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/706.htm Senate Passes Broadband Mapping Legislation - Time for House to Follow Suit, NextGenWeb Broadband has taken center stage these past 24 hours. In last night?s debate, Senator Barack Obama cited the need to get broadband to all Americans as part of his plan to get the economy back on track. Senator McCain calls broadband deployment a ?top priority.? The Senate has heeded the call by their two most prominent members by passing legislation late last night that would improve the way broadband is mapped throughout the U.S. Better mapping will make it easier to identify those areas throughout the U.S. who are missing out on the broadband promise ? from more access to health care http://www.nextgenweb.org/news-and-blog-clips/senate-passes-broadband-mapping-legislation-time-for-house-to-follow-suit More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/706.htm Senate Passes Broadband Data Improvement Act, Senate No description http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=3bf3c95b-db08-4ba8-8f82-57fb0cc067da More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/706.htm Transpacific undersea cable completed, CNET Some of the world's leading phone companies complete the construction of an undersea cable to provide more Internet capacity between the U.S. and parts of Asia. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10053949-92.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/backbone.htm Cable Continues Low Customer Satisfaction Tradition - Charter, Comcast at the bottom, says CFI Group?, dslreports Cable carriers can't get a break when it comes to low consumer satisfaction scores, coming in at the tail end of most industries according to the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Among cable carriers, both Comcast and Charter are usually bringing up the rear, be it in the ACSI or with a study this week by the CFI Group. The CFI Group found both companies continuing their bottom ranking tradition, despite very clear efforts from both companies to shore up public perception. Cox (66 out of 100) topped satisfaction rankings among cable companies, but the industry average was dragged http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Cable-Continues-Low-Customer-Satisfaction-Tradition-98089 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/cable.htm XOHM! Sprint brings WiMax to Baltimore, CNET Sprint announces XOHM, WiMax network for Baltimore. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10053695-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wimax.htm WiMax Finally Available... In 2008... In Baltimore, Techdirt For years and years we used to make fun of the press and analysts for either saying that WiMax existed when it did not or for predicting huge uptake before the tech was even ready. Plenty of companies offered wireless broadband, but it was not WiMax, no matter what they (or the press) called it. Back in 2003, we even made a pretty clear prediction: WiMax would not be ready for prime time until 2008, going against plenty of analysts who insisted it would be the big thing in 2004. And 2005. And 2006. And 2007. So, it's nice to see Sprint squeeze in the launch of its WiMax Xohm service before the end of http://techdirt.com/articles/20080929/1838312405.shtml More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wimax.htm Video: "White spaces" explained, Google If you're one of the many folks not familiar with the basics of white spaces (don't worry, it is complicated), the folks at the People's Production House have put together a new video that explains the issues for non-techies. Check it out: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GooglePublicPolicyBlog/~3/403832211/video-white-spaces-explained.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/broadband/wireless.htm#white Net neutrality: An American problem?, CNET Executives at three Australian ISPs say that unlimited-access plans just aren't sustainable today and that the U.S. could learn a lesson from Down Under. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10053045-94.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Shocker: Consumers Hate Broadband Caps - What's a gigabyte?, dslreports A new survey conducted by International Data Corporation on behalf of Zeugma Systems not too surprisingly finds that consumers aren't big fans of monthly data caps. Though it's a low dataset of 787 consumers polled, 81% say they don't like the idea of being capped and charged overages, and 51% say they'd try to change ISPs if their provider implemented caps. More interesting perhaps is that only 5% of those polled agreed with the sentiment that "those who use more should pay more," and 83% say that they do not know what a gigabyte is or have no idea how many gigabytes they use. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Shocker-Consumers-Hate-Broadband-Caps-98090 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Europe embraces an open Internet, Google I recently returned from a trip to Europe and discovered some interesting thinking there about the Internet. Last week the European Commission launched a debate about whether broadband now needs to be considered part of "universal service." Today, the European Commission?s Information Society and Media department, led by Commissioner Viviane Reding, has published a fascinating paper on the future networks and the Internet. It is only ten pages long, so I'd suggest everyone take a look. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GooglePublicPolicyBlog/~3/406653435/europe-embraces-open-internet.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm Comcast is Right, the FCC is Wrong, CircleID A fellow named Paul Korzeniowski has written a very good, concise piece on the Comcast action at the FCC for Forbes, Feds And Internet Service Providers Don't Mix. He manages to describe the controversy in clear and unemotional language, which contrasts sharply with the neutralists who constantly use emotionally-charged terms such as "blocking," "Deep Packet Inspection," "forgery," and "monopoly" to describe their discomfort. http://www.circleid.com/posts/2008928_comcast_right_fcc_wrong/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutralp2p.htm Car Dealership Appeals ConsumerAffair's CDA 230 Win, Citizen's Media New York-based Nemet Chevrolet filed a notice of appeal to the Fourth Circuit last week, challenging a district court's dismissal of its amended complaint against ConsumerAffairs.com based on section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA 230). The appeal presents some interesting questions about whether a website loses CDA 230 immunity by encouraging negative consumer commentary and using drop-down boxes to enable users to categorize their submissions. To my knowledge, this is the http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CitizenMediaLawProject/~3/406605739/car-dealership-appeals-consumeraffairs-cda-230-win More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/samaritan.htm US Drops to 19th in Broadband Penetration Worldwide, Broadband Reports US broadband penetration dropped from 17th to 19th place overall among all countries surveyed over the past two quarters. Monaco leads all nations surveyed with 40.6% of the population on broadband and 100% of households. http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0809/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/data/broadband.htm It's Official: China Now Has More Broadband Lines Than the United States., Sascha It was just last year that those of us raising alarms about the massive half-decade market failure in the United States to adequately provision broadband services were facing a misinformation campaign that raw numbers mattered more than percentage rankings. According to this argument, the US broadband market was sound because we had more broadband lines than anyone else http://saschameinrath.com/2008/sep/29/its_official_china_now_has_more_broadband_lines_united_states More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/data/broadband.htm ARIN Monthly Statistics, ARIN No description http://www.arin.net/announcements/20080929_stats.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/ VeriSign's plan to sign the root, IGP VeriSign has publicly released its proposal to sign the root, which it sent to the NTIA on September 22. Their proposal comes on the heels of ICANN submitting their own (yet to be publicly released) proposal to the NTIA on September 2. DoC will be putting out a Notice of Inquiry soon regarding signing the root to gather public comments. VeriSign adds a much needed dimension to the root signing debate, introducing a well known threshold cryptographic technique. But the proposal's reliance on root server operators needs to be considered carefully. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IGPBlog/~3/405639087/3903803.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/dns/security.htm House website overwhelmed, Globe and Mail Servers bogged down as government hasn't seen this much demand since the 9/11 commission report http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-Technology/~3/406642393/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/egov/ House Passes New Internet Radio Legislation, Consumer Affairs Bill would enable negotiations on royalties to continue after Congressional recess. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/09/internet_radio_reprieve.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/carp.htm And Walmart Makes Three: Another Music Service Plans to Shut Down DRM Support, EFF Following in the footsteps of MSN Music and Yahoo! Music, Walmart has notified customers that it will be shutting off its DRM servers in less than two weeks. Walmart's been selling DRM-free music since February, but anyone who bought music before that date will not be able to transfer those songs to ?unauthorized computers,? or access the songs after changing operating systems. Walmart, like MSN and Yahoo!, advises customers to back up their music to a CD if they want to be able to access it in the future. So, Walmart customers get to invest more time http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/09/and-walmart-makes-three-another-music-service-plan More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ip/flag.htm Internet Pioneer Paul Baran Awarded National Medals of Technology and Innovation, CircleID Paul A. Baran, a founding father of the Internet has been named a 2007 National Medal of Technology and Innovation laureate. Baren was presented the award by President Bush at the White House today. Baran is one of the three inventors of packet-switched networks, along with Donald Davies and Leonard Kleinrock. His packet switching idea has served as a foundation where others later built the ARPANET, which, over time, evolved into the Internet. http://www.circleid.com/posts/paul_baran_national_medals_technology/ More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/notes/internethistory.htm VoIP Vulnerabilities Being Exposed Today - Company calls can be listened in on, dslreports The vulnerabilities of VoIP calls are being discussed today at the Toorcon conference in San Diego. VoIP Hopper s Jason Ostrom is demonstrating his next-generation VoIP sniffer, called UCSniff, which is capable of mapping all telephone extensions to specific IP addresses as well as actually listening in on the VoIP calls that are made by specific users. The purpose of the demonstration is to show businesses what risks they are taking as they start using Unified Communications systems (and to show them how to prevent those problems). However, it s an area of vulnerability which all VoIP user http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/VoIP-Vulnerabilities-Being-Exposed-Today-98039 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/voip/ GAO report: e-voting vendors causing problems for states, Ars Technica A new GAO report on state election procedures is mostly sanguine, but finds some persistent trouble spots in certifying voting systems?and broad uncertainty about the prevalence of local problems. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080930-gao-report-e-voting-vendors-causing-problems-for-states.html More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/vote/ Usage Caps & Metered Prices: Idealism v. Reality, IP Democracy My old friend Om Malik sent me a note this morning highlighting a white paper on metered bandwidth pricing plans written by one of his old friends, researcher and analyst Muayyad Al-Chalabi. Om posted the paper on his site (you can sign up to have a PDF version of the email sent to you but you can also print the paper from Scribd onto a PDF) with the warning that metered usage and bandwidth caps pose a "clear and present danger to the way we use the Internet in this country." http://www.ipdemocracy.com/archives/2008/09/30/#003064 More Info: http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~