Last month, I wrote that it was hard to feel sorry for AT&T. The context there was that their love/hate relationship with Apple over the years has been tough on them. Boo hoo. Today, AT&T is playing the sympathy card again — this time in the context of net neutrality.
Pathetic.
In a post entitled “Wireless is Different,” AT&T makes the case for why they agree with the Google/Verizon… → Read More
The Tea Party, the “American socio-political movement that emerged in 2009 through a series of locally and nationally coordinated protests,” and known for its colorful protest signs (as seen here), hates Net Neutrality. Why does the Tea Party hate Net Neutrality? “I think the clearest thing is it’s an affront to free speech and free markets.” Thus spoke Jaime Radtke, chairwoman of the… → Read More
The past few days I’ve been bookmarking posts about Google, Verizon, and net neutrality to read later. For the past few hours I’ve been doing that — and I’ve barely made a dent. It seems that everyone who has ever written a word on the Internet is up in arms about the situation. And what’s amazing is that nearly all of them are in agreement. There’s no clear consensus as to why Google is selling… → Read More
Looks like Google and Verizon were, in fact, in talks over Net Neutrality after all, calling it a “thorny” issue, no less. Hm. Both parties announced, a few moments ago, the creation of a codified framework that they will submit to lawmakers in hopes of being enshrined into law. Many of the ideas are fairly benign, such as giving the FCC power to regulate the Internet a little more forcefully. → Read More
Al Franken, the junior senator from Minnesota, wants you to help him save Net Neutrality. Given that Google may or may not be actively plotting to destroy Net Neutrality, it may be worth your time to sign the petition. → Read More
When do you think it would be appropriate to revoke Google’s “Do No Evil?” credentials? Mountain View is in talks with Verizon that would allow the Big V to prioritize Internet traffic as it sees fit. So, if Site A wants to pay Verizon $X so that it loads faster than Site B, Site B has two options: it could either pay Verizon $2X so that it loads faster, or it can be content with the fact… → Read More
And so it begins. The European Commission this morning launched a consultation on key questions regarding the contentious issues of net neutrality and the open Internet.
The consultation covers such issues as whether ISPs should be allowed to adopt traffic management practices, prioritizing one kind of Internet traffic over another. This has become an issue with the onset of broadband and… → Read More
Apologies for the headline, but it was too appropriate to resist. It seems that there is a feature of uTorrent 2.0 now in beta that automatically detects network congestion and self-limits bandwidth to lessen it. This might provide some much-needed relief to ISPs that feel a disproportionate amount of traffic is P2P. I’m not sure whether to call this self-policing action capitulation or… → Read More
The beauty of the Drudge Report right now is that Mr. Drudge is working against his very interests. He’s got some ridiculous headline right now, JULIUS AT FCC WANTS TO ‘REGULATE’ INTERNET, that’s meant to wile up his easily excitable readership. What’s going on is that the FCC has moved one step closer to bringin Net Neutrality to fruition, and has invited the public to weigh in until January 14. → Read More
This past week saw the resurrection of Net Neutrality as a divisive issue. Some folks (people like Google, and, well, us) are in favor of Net Neutrality, while other folks (primarily the ISPs) are against it. Not long after the FCC announced its intentions, six Republican senators, three of which who received quite a lot of money from AT&T, proposed an amendment to a bill to stop the FCC in… → Read More
A bit of an update to that whole AT&T-linked senators story from the other day. Well, our complaining must have worked because the senators will no longer try to block Net Neutrality. USA! → Read More
In what was ostensibly a meeting of the majors last week to advise the FCC on broadband policy, the COO of Paramount was allowed to wax ignorant for 10 minutes on piracy and file-sharing technology. As a major content provider, they should certainly have some input, but this was sheer soap-boxery. Sure, peer to peer and torrent traffic (legal and otherwise) is going to be a major driver of… → Read More
Nicholas “Net Neutrality” Deleon here with truly shocking news: six Republican senators have tacked on an amendment to an appropriations bill that would block the FCC’s attempt to make Net Neutrality a reality. So remember, kids: when you think of a free and open Internet, don’t think of the GOP. It’s not your friend here. → Read More
The Big Deal yesterday was the FCC’s announcement of two additional proposals to its enforcement of Net Neutrality: non-discrimination (ISPs can’t play favorites when it comes to network traffic), and transparent management (ISPs should be upfront with their network management practices, like blocking BitTorrent during peak hours). That’s all well and good—I don’t think you’ll find anyone… → Read More
My God in Heaven! It’s been about four hours since the FCC announced its intention to add two more pillars to its idea of Net Neutrality: one, ISPs should not be allowed to wily nilly permit/disallow traffic on their networks (non-discrimination); and two, traffic management should be done is as transparent a manner as possible, so you don’t wind up with people discovering that their software is… → Read More
As expected, the chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, announced today his agency’s support for Net Neutrality. Odds are if you’re reading us then you have a basic idea of what Net Neutrality is, but if not it can be summed up like this: ISPs will be expected to treat all data equally, and not favor 0s and 1s from Company A or Company B, no matter what sweetheart a deal may be in place. The… → Read More
We’ve spoken about deep packet inspection before, noting that authorities are using it to tackle crimes like the proliferation of online child pornography. It’s convenient for the deep packet folks to hitch their wagon to such an issue, since no one is going to come out against it when it’s being used to combat that type of content. (No one wants to be seen as being “soft” on that type of… → Read More
John McCain’s technology plan was released yesterday. Since the plan is from a politician, obviously you might want to approach with skepticism, but click through for our summery. In no way does this reflect the views and/or opinions of Crunchgear, we’re just summarizing the long-ass article for you. → Read More
Comcast Center aka The Citadel. Flickr’d The FCC wants to punish Comcast for blocking its customers’ access to the Internet. That, of course, in part refers to the company’s practice of blocking BitTorrent. Kevin Martin—yes, that Kevin Martin—had this to say: We found that Comcast’s actions in this instance violated our principles [of open access to the… → Read More
Google will develop tools that allow people to determine if their Internet connection is being tampered with by their ISP. Net Neutrality, filthy customers, and so on. The comments here? The name-calling, the “I’m smarter than you,” the “Net Neutrality is good, Neutrality is evil!” back-and-forth… wow, I can’t stand that. Go plant a tree or something. → Read More
So much controversy surrounding Comcast’s “proposed” Bill of Rights and Responsibilities regarding P2P use. The Slashdot reaction was typical: I pay for a service and they’d better damn well deliver said service. That’s hard to argue. Another idea I liked: Comcast is only proposing this Bill in order to prevent government regulation from taking effect. Maybe if it… → Read More
[photopress:DSC03083.jpg,full,center] Net Neutrality is important, and the FCC is rattling its sabers at ISPs like Comcast who’ve taken part in “traffic shaping” schemes, or favoring certain packets over others. At a hearing at Harvard, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said, “The commission is ready, willing and able to step in if necessary to correct any practices that are… → Read More
[photopress:fcccomcast.jpg,full,center] The FCC didn’t buy Comcast’s explanation, either. The Federal Communications Commission will investigate Comcast over alleged traffic interference (and at the same time reveal its attitude toward Net Neutrality). You may remember last year’s Associated Press investigation (and the subsequent lawsuit) that found Comcast actively interfering… → Read More
There has never been a better way to get your political point across than with a group music video. We Are The World can suck it though, this is the greatest thing I’ve seen in awhile. And we totally agree with them. → Read More
She’s actually holding the wrong sign Deutsche Telekom plans to charge companies for the ability to use its network to deliver video to its customers. Net Neutrality and all that jazz. The German company, which has little to no competition (apparently), says it has to charge because all that bandwidth costs entirely too much. No, this doesn’t affect us Americans per se, but the… → Read More
The AP has confirmed what we already knew: Comcast uses traffic shaping to slow down your Internet connection. Thanks, Comcast! Yup, the AP ran a bunch of tests nationwide to determine if user complaints (like mine, but directed at Time Warner) were valid, or just a bunch of nerds complaining for the sake of it. Like I and many others have pointed out, the AP discovered that downloading files… → Read More
Say goodbye to Net Neutrality, folks. The FTC just released an NIE of sorts, detailing the whole history of Net Neutrality and why, ultimately, the agency does not support the concept. Yes, our glorious leaders in Washington have decided that it’s a good idea to let The Market decide what’s best for all of us. All bow before the Invisible Hand. The FTC came out against Net Neutrality… → Read More
It wasn’t so long ago that the only way you could talk to your friend down the block was over a landline. In a flash, nearly the entire world became blessed with the gift of wireless, and cell phones became standard procedure. Today, if one so desires, they can eschew their rotary phone altogether, and go VoIP (if having just a mobile doesn’t cut it.) Such diversity and choice is great… → Read More
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