Earlier today Google released the full report of the FCC’s investigation into the collection of “payload data” from open Wi-Fi networks — aka passwords, email and search history from open networks — that its fleet of Street View cars obtained between 2008 and April 2010. An earlier and heavily redacted version of the report was released on April 15 but today’s version only redacted the names of individuals.
The report found no violation of any wrong doing by the company because there was no legal precedent on the matter. The FCC found that Google did not violate the Communications Act citing the fact that Wi-Fi did not exist when it was written. However, the FCC did fine Google $25,000 for obstructing the investigation, which was presumably the outcome of Google refusing to show the FCC what the data being collected entailed because it might have shown that the company broke privacy and wiretapping laws. Google says any obstruction was result of the FCC dragging out the investigation. Interestingly enough, the report did reveal that the data harvesting was not the act of a rogue engineer and that said engineer notified the Street View team of what was going on.
(Wait. What? Google knew this was going on! It gets even better.) → Read More
Anti-consumer legislation SOPA and PIPA might be all but dead, but there isn’t time to rest. There is a seemingly never-ending flow of proposed legislation, statutes and bills queued up, ready to bust down doors and storm living rooms. One of the latest involves the forced transition from analog to digital cable — something I wrote about back in 2008. If the FCC caves to massive lobbying from the cable companies, the days of unencrypted cable stations in the US will be numbered. Cable subscribers would be required to have a cable box (which will likely cost money) or CableCard-compatible box to receive even local network stations.
Boxee just recently started taking an active role in this fight. The Boxee Box has always been uniquely positioned as a legitimate cable alternative, but it wasn’t until Boxee Live TV launched last month that the company has gone against cable companies face-to-face. But if this proposal passes, it will stifle products not only from Boxee, but also products from El Gato, Silicon Dust and others — and let’s not forget about the likely millions of cable TVs currently enjoying living a box-less life. → Read More
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, SV Angel’s Ron Conway, Andreessen-Horowitz’ Jeff Jordan, Twilio’s Jeff Lawson, Foursquare mobile VP Holger Leudorf and Lookout founder John Hering all gathered at Founder’s Den HQ this afternoon for the awesomely titled “Desperately Seeking Spectrum” panel, where discussion centered around freeing up broadband spectrum for the US mobile industry to use as it continues its formidable expansion. → Read More
Obscenely high phone bills have a habit of coming from out of the blue, but that could all change in coming months. According to Reuters, the wireless trade association CTIA is expected to announce a new set of guidelines today under which all wireless carriers must notify their customers when they’re nearing overage territory. → Read More
There have been plenty of questions over whether or not the proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T is in the public interest. We’ve heard from competitors, senators, attorneys generals, and even the DOJ, who formally filed a complaint in federal court saying that “AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low-priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market.”
Today, it’s the FCC who’s asking the questions, and it seems AT&T has been avoiding them. → Read More
Nobody ever wants to be in a situation that requires emergency services, but when you are, that whole “dial 911” thing really helps. Sort of. In truth, our emergency response system is pretty outdated when we consider all the various forms of communication that have basically become mainstream.
But luckily, FCC Charmain Julius Genachowski recently announced that a five step plan is in place to bring text, photo, video and data support to the Next Generation 911 service. → Read More
So let’s say you walk into a Best Buy looking for a new tablet. You walk up to the guy in the blue polo and tell him what you’re looking for. After taking you to the tablet section, he whips out a handkerchief and blindfolds you. “They’re all really good!” he promises. “The one on the left is $499, the one in the middle is $549, and the one on the right is an even $600. Which can I wrap up for you today?”
It sounds ridiculous, but that’s essentially you’ve been shopping around for Internet service providers: blind as a bat, unless you want to trust their ads. But now, for the first time ever, the good old FCC has compiled data from 9,000 average Joe Americans over the course of a month. The goal: to gauge the speeds offered by ISPs in the real world, not just in their advertisements. → Read More
These photos from the FCC show us a few of the new Roku devices coming out in 2011 including the 3000X, 3050X, and 3100X. These guys will have 1080p HDMI, USB support, a microSD slot, and surround sound support. The HD model features an RF remote control. → Read More
Verizon Wireless got hit with an FCC complaint this morning by an organization called Free Press, over the restrictions placed on Verizon’s 4G LTE smartphones. The group claims that Verizon’s rules don’t necessarily jive with the regulatory policies of the Federal Communications Commission when it comes to tethering to Verizon’s speedy 4G LTE network. → Read More
The HTC EVO 3D is possibly one of the most anticipated phones of the summer, and both Sprint and HTC have done an excellent job of teasing out its launch date. Thanks to a RadioShack flyer discovered a few days ago, we were pretty certain the 3D-capable smartphone would hit shelves on June 24. Today, however, we’ve been given a little extra confirmation that the smartphone is on its way, since the HTC EVO 3D was spotted passing through the FCC, and nabbed a stamp of approval. → Read More
Talk about sinking to a new low. It seems that Comcast and perhaps other ISPs are blocking access to the notorious torrent site, ThePirateBay.org. The word comes from TorrentFreak who also reached out to the TPB team who indicated that they can’t confirm if an ISP is blocking the site but “there’s a significant drop in visitors from the U.S.” All I know is I, a Comcast subscriber, cannot access the site.
Comcast isn’t exactly known to be friendly with the downloaders or streamers. In the past they’ve limited and even blocked seeding of torrent files. The term throttling was synonymous with Comcast a few years back. The company eventually entered into a partnership with BitTorrent, Inc and was later asked by the FCC to stop the practices, but perhaps the company just moved to block specific sites in an effort to kill the bandwidth-sucking practice of torrenting.
Update: Comcast responded. → Read More
Last December the FCC approved its “Preserving the Open Internet” regulation to ban blocking of websites or web services by broadband providers, while being equally vague about what the new restrictions held for mobile carriers like Verizon and AT&T.
As we said in December, Republicans had vowed to give the loophole-filled rules hell when the Congress turned more Republican in January.
Today we see the fruits of their efforts, namely the voting through of House Joint Resolution 37, a regulation that would prohibit the FCC from having any authority over ISPs and broadband, thus overturning December’s regulations. → Read More
Oh, here comes controversy. The FCC has preliminarily approved the use of mobile phone signal boosters, but let’s say it’s only put one foot in the water. A 55-page notice of proposed rulemaking [PDF] has been put online that details what the FCC has in mind. The idea is to give consumers a limited ability to boost their mobile signal in times of need. Wireless providers, like AT&T, are none too pleased. → Read More
Looks like the FCC just tipped another product before its official announcement. The Dell Panerai seems to be from the same cloth as the Inspiron Duo convertible netbook although just a few schematics are in the FCC docs. An a/b/g/n Intel Centrino 6230 chipset is listed as the WiFi card of choice, which then confirms that this notebook will have a bit more power than the Insprion Duo as the Centrino 6 series are reserved just for Sandy Bridge Core processors. Hopefully inside the Dell casing is a battery that can pump for more than just a few hours with a thirsty Core i3/i5 at the core. Of course the FCC didn’t slip in a little note about when this guy will hit the market or the expected price. Sheesh. [Wireless Goodness via SlashGear] → Read More
It’s illegal to own or operate a GPS jammer in the United States for many valid reasons. More importantly, it threatens many systems us humans find relevant. If GPS goes down, how will people get around cities without getting lost? (Google Maps works so well for public transit.) It’s not surprising that the biggest threat to GPS is actually its owners: the US government. → Read More
Not much here to note but this FCC filing shows that the Blackberry Playbook has pushed through another hurdle towards reality. The filing shows the capacaties – 16, 32, and 64GB – but the rest is classified per RIM’s request to the FCC. I’m actually quite intrigued by this pad but I’d probably never buy one. We shall, as they say, see. → Read More
Back to the drawing board. The House of Representatives struck a mighty blow against Net Neutrality yesterday, with the communications and technology subcommittee voting against the recently adopted Net Neutrality rules. The rules will actually remain in place until Congress or the president do something about them, ie, send them back to the FCC for further re-tooling or worse. → Read More
The FCC are currently investigating Verizon’s “mass call event” problems related to recent snow storms in DC and Maryland. The carrier failed to patch through multiple 911 calls during recent weather events, resulting in trapped motorists in dangerous conditions. → Read More
The Republican Party has a bone to pick with the Federal Communications Commission, and you’ll never guess why. Oh, wait, yes you will. Predictably, several Republican congressmen have come out against the evils of Net Neutrality, despite the fact that it passed several months ago, and despite the fact that it could charitably only be called Net Neutrality Lite. What gives? → Read More
Who saw this coming? (Oh, right: everyone.) Verizon has taken umbrage with certain aspects of Net Neutrality, and has taken the rather predictable tract of challenging the FCC’s authority in order to get out of complying with the rules. It’s nothing more than a simple case of if you can’t win an argument based on its own merit attack the credibility of your adversary. Verizon isn’t too keen on the provision that would force it to treat all data on its network equally, so it’s going to court to make sure it doesn’t have to. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
