Future of the Internet

Net Neutrality Rock: "Help me become a law!"

mthompson — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:07:23 -0700

One activist's take on how you can support the new Internet Freedom Preservation Act.
Help this brave little bill become a law at SavetheInternet.com!

Next President Should Launch the Digital New Deal

Stevie Converse — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:04:47 -0700

When more than 3 million voters under age 30 turned out for recent caucuses and primaries, they staked a claim as a major force shaping this historic presidential election.

Net Neutrality's Quiet Crusader

Stevie Converse — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:15:35 -0700

Bearing video cameras, laptops and cellphones, a small army of young activists flooded into a recent federal meeting in protest. Members of public-interest group Free Press weren't there to support a presidential candidate or decry global warming.

FCC Debates Open Internet at April 17 Stanford Hearing

Holiday Shapiro — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:34:24 -0700

Today, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it will hold a second public hearing on the future of the Internet on April 17 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

FCC Public Hearing on Broadband Network Management Practices

Stevie Converse — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:02:08 -0700

Start: 04/17/2008 - 03:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-4

The Commission will hear from expert panelists regarding broadband network management practices and Internet-related issues.

Guest Commentary: Philadelphia Network Flop Points to Failure of Corporate Franchise Model

Haijing Tu — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:19:48 -0700

Last year, New America Foundation released an in-depth report and analysis of the Wireless Philadelphia Project, “The Philadelphia Story: Learning from a Municipal Wireless Pioneer.” We concluded that the private franchise model was suboptimal and that Philadelphia’s solution was problematic in a number of ways.

Guest Commentary: Northeast Ohio Muni Wireless Project Brings Together Education, City Officials

Haijing Tu — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:49:53 -0700

This week The Chronicle of Higher Education published a story entitled: “Struggling Communities Turn to Colleges: Small private institutions work to help ailing local economies.” The article discusses the value of collaboration between higher education and local government.

Florissant, Missouri Installs Wi-Fi Cameras for Public Safety

Haijing Tu — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:01:59 -0700

The city of Florissant, Missouri (pop. 51,000; 11.4 square miles outside St. Louis) is installing wireless cameras as part of a citywide Wi-Fi network for public safety. The first three cameras have already been set up in areas that are plagued by vandalism.

MetroFi Plans Market Exit: Sale or Shutter

Haijing Tu — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:53:04 -0700

MetroFi will sell its networks, but plans to shutter if there are no buyers: Ah, folks, the trifecta has arrived, and I’m nothing but sad about it.

California City Gets Video Surveillance Fever

Haijing Tu — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:41:40 -0700

Taking a cue from surveillance camera-laden London, this San Francisco Bay Area city is installing security camera systems for the police and at the port to reduce crime and protect against terrorism.

Riverside Residents Get Crash Course in Wireless Technology

Haijing Tu — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:57:49 -0700

AT&T officials on Monday taught the public how to get onto the citywide Wi-Fi network that the company is preparing to roll out in Riverside.

More than 250 residents, many of them senior citizens, attended the presentation at the Riverside Convention Center downtown.

Governments Must Intervene to End IP Address Shortage, Says OECD

Stevie Converse — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:13:23 -0700

Businesses alone are not doing enough to avert an impending shortage of Internet Protocol addresses, and governments must work with them to secure the future of the Internet economy, according to a report published Thursday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

One in Five U.S. Households Has Never Used E-mail

Stevie Converse — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:42:11 -0700

Roughly one-fifth of all U.S. heads-of-household have never used e-mail, according to National Technology Scan, a forthcoming study from Parks Associates. This annual phone survey of U.S. households found 20 million households are without Internet access, approximately 18% of all U.S. households.

New Study Shows FCC Needs to Act on Comcast Blocking

Stevie Converse — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:36:52 -0700

The Max Planck Institute has released a new survey of worldwide BitTorrent traffic finding that Comcast and Cox are the chief offenders for throttling traffic, and that they block at all hours of the day and night.

The study is here:
http://broadband.mpi-sws.mpg.de/transparency/results/

The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:

Cox, Comcast Biggest BitTorrent Blockers in the World

Stevie Converse — Fri, 16 May 2008 06:18:28 -0700

US ISPs are generally perceived by users here to offer unlimited and fairly neutral connections to the 'Net for a monthly fee. Or they were, anyway, until Comcast admitted that it was "delaying" P2P traffic at peak times. New research from Germany now demonstrates that it's not just Comcast; Cox is getting a piece of the P2P blocking action, too.

Comcast Lied to FCC, Blocks BitTorrent Traffic 24/7

Stevie Converse — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:56:14 -0700

New data on Comcast’s interference with BitTorrent traffic shows that the company misinformed the FCC this February. Comcast has always argued that BitTorrent upstream traffic was only blocked during periods of heavy network traffic, this turns out to be a lie.

Cox, Comcast Accused of More BitTorrent Blocking

Stevie Converse — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:51:03 -0700

Comcast and Cox Communications are blocking BitTorrent traffic throughout all hours of the day, according to a report by Germany's Max Planck Institute. The global study released May 15 found widespread blocking of BitTorrent transfers only in the United States and Singapore.

Cox Caught Blocking BitTorrent

Stevie Converse — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:41:27 -0700

Remember that web-based tool to test whether your ISP is blocking BitTorrent that we linked to a couple weeks back?

Comcast, Cox Slow BitTorrent Traffic Around the Clock, Study Finds

Stevie Converse — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:20:23 -0700

U.S. cable broadband providers Comcast and Cox Communications are slowing BitTorrent traffic at all times of the day, not just during peak traffic, according to a new study by a German computer research group.

Study Says Some File-Sharing Uploads Hindered

Stevie Converse — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:15:30 -0700

A study released on Thursday reinforced allegations that Comcast Corp is hindering some file-sharing services, such as BitTorrent, that distribute television shows and movies over its network.