Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
By Winter Casey, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, October 21, 2009 - As the Federal Communications Commission nears the
monthly meeting slated for Thursday to consider new regulations regarding Net neutrality, e-mail boxes across Washington are being flooded by all manner of interest groups staking their claim over neutrality and freedom on the Internet.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s decision to take steps toward formal Net neutrality regulations is not surprising, particularly given President Barack Obama’s
campaign pledge was to “strongly support the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet.”
Businesses and interest groups have taken hard-line stances for and against Net neutrality. The term deals with how broadband providers may charge differential rates for preferred business customers.
“The rise of serious challenges to the free and open Internet puts us at a crossroads,” Genachowski said in a
September speech at the Brookings Institution. “We could see the Internet’s doors shut to entrepreneurs, the spirit of innovation stifled, a full and free flow of information compromised. Or we could take steps to preserve internet openness, helping ensure a future of opportunity, innovation, and a vibrant marketplace of ideas.”
Internet companies such as Amazon, Google, and...
Read More »
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
By Mercy Gakii, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com; and Rahul Gaitonde, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, October 15, 2009 - Six public interest organizations, including Consumers Union, on Wednesday filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to protect consumers from misleading and confusing advertising and billing practices by phone, cable and wireless providers.
The consumer groups argue that current protections are insufficient and urge the FCC to require meaningful, not misleading, disclosure.
These groups would like to force billing and advertising practices which are more transparent and easier to understand. These companies often offer introductory rates and special offers to some customers which then change without consumers knowing in advance when their rates will be affected.
The other organizations were Consumer Federation of America, Free Press, Media Access Project, the New America Foundation and Public Knowledge.
"When consumers have the facts, they can make informed choices," said Chris Riley, policy counsel of Free Press. "Consumers are being bombarded with inconsistent and incomplete information when shopping for service providers or plans, and then they are baffled by misleading and confusing bills once they sign up. Customers invest a lot of money in these services and spend a great deal of time using them. That’s why the FCC must...
Read More »
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
By the Staff of BroadbandCensus.com
Net neutrality fans on Wednesay praised the decision by AT&T to reverse course and allow customers to use broadband voice services on the service plans they have that use the Apple iPhone. The decision followed a Federal Communications Commission investigation into the practices of wireless broadband industry.
Markham Erickson, executive director of the Open Internet Coalition said, “AT&T had originally said they had “every right” not to promote the services of companies like Skype; clearly, in the face of new movement at the FCC they rethought a position which restricted consumer choice and wireless innovation. We applaud its decision to reverse course,” he said, and urged the FCC to “recognize that consumer rights need to be protected on both wireline and wireless networks.”
Said Derek Turner, research director of the advocacy group Free Press, referring to voice-over-internet-protocol services, "after more than two years of blocking VoIP applications, the FCC has succeeded in getting AT&T to open their network to the applications consumers want.”
“The arm-twisting that led to AT&T’s belated announcement is a critical reminder of why we need the FCC walking the beat to protect consumers,” he said, adding that the agency “should not be distracted or delayed...
Read More »
Monday, August 31st, 2009
From BroadbandCensus.com Weekly Report
WASHINGTON, August 31, 2009 – The Federal Communica¬tions Commission is making good on its efforts to be transparent and timely – this time in 140 characters or less. The agency has joined the thousands of Twitterers by launching its tweets at
http://www.twitter.com/fccdotgov. The FCC’s tweets include news about the agency and progress reports on the national broadband plan.
It has also launched a new blog last week called Blogband --
http://blog.broadband.gov – kudos to you if you can say that five times fast. The agency said it will chronicle the development of the plan and as with most blogs, allows reader comment.
Content available for Paid Subscribers of BroadbandCensus.com Weekly Report. Click here to subscribe.
[private_yearly][private_free-trial]“To foster public dialogue about the national broadband plan, we’re tapping the power of the Internet to launch a new FCC blog,” agency Chairman Julius Gena¬chowski wrote in the first post. “Blogband will keep people up-to-date about the work the FCC is doing and the progress we’re making. But we want it to be a two-way conversation. The feedback, ideas, and discussions generated on this blog will be critical in developing the best possible national broadband plan.”
The agency isn’t the...
Read More »
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, August 25, 2009 –
One year ago, BroadbandCensus.com
joined in support of One Web Day. We are very happy to do so again this year, in 2009.
Both for BroadbandCensus.com and for broadband policy and internet technology, a lot has changed in the past year. We lauched BroadbandCensus.com in January 2008 with the simple and straitforward goal of making basic broadband information -- information about Broadband Speeds, Prices, Availability, Reliability and Competition -- public and freely available to users of broadband services. Many wondered why this was necessary. In the lead-up to our "
Broadband Census for America Conference," in September 2008, we were still highlighting the importance of broadband and of solid broadband data in the economy and in society.
With the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009, much of that focus seems
very old. Almost overnight, sometime between mid-November and mid-December 2008, everyone seemed to agree that broadband, and broadband data in particular, was essential. BroadbandCensus.com gain a new lease on life. It was enough just to keep up with the breakneck pace of news, analysis, regulation and broadband stimulus deadlines.
BroadbandCensus.com has been there to...
Read More »
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
From BroadbandCensus.com Weekly Report
WASHINGTON, August 3, 2009 – Less than two weeks remain before the first round of applications are due in the federal government’s broadband stimulus grants. The key issues facing the government can be summed up in three words: data, data and data.
Last week began a three-ring affair to sort out the mess that is the current state of our nation’s broadband data. In one circle is the Federal Communications Commission, which opened an inquiry concerning how it should release the key data that it has about broadband deployment – the Form 477. Specifically, the FCC was asking what it means to “aggregate” data, and whether and how confidentiality restrictions should condition its further release of this data. Initial responses were due last Thursday. Many major carrier and non-profit groups have replied.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration was also buzzing last week on the very same topic. In remarks at a Charlottesville, Va., workshop reported on by BroadbandCensus.com, NTIA chief Lawrence Strickling dusted off a lamp and let the data genie out of the bottle. “We need the data: I think it is a national imperative in which this data be collected,” Strickling said about the $350 million...
Read More »
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
By Ryan Womack, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, July 21, 2009 - The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council today received four radio stations and equipment from Clear Channel radio. The gift was promulgated on the second day of the MMTC’s twelfth annual conference, a meeting of minority leaders to discuss current telecom trends and policies as well as to pool interest.
Clear Channel had earlier this year donated a transmitter to the MMTC and is now donating four AM stations: KYHN in Fort Smith, Ark.; WTFX in Winchester, Va.; KMFX in Rochester, Minn.; and WHJA in Laurel, Miss. .
MMTC has not yet made known publicly what they intend to do with these gifted stations.
Minority ownership in the media market has been disproportionate to minority populations, say presenters at the MMTC conference. That includes Democratic Rep. Linda Sanchez of California, who stated that “people of color own just three percent of all local TV stations,” citing numbers by the advocacy group Free Press.
Rep. Sanchez also expressed confidence in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s broadband stimulus funds, particularly the $4.7 billion supervised by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).
She said she believes...
Read More »
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
By Andrew Feinberg, Deputy Editor, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, Thursday June 18, 2009 - After a frenetic burst of activity on and off Capitol Hill, Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps (D) announced on Thursday an investigation into whether consumers are being harmed by exclusive contracts between handset manufacturers and wireless carriers.
Senators John Kerry, D-Mass., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. kicked off the controversy Monday as they co-signed a letter to Copps demanding an investigation.
The senators asked Copps to examine exclusivity agreements in order to investigate the extent of their effects on consumers choice. Following hearings on wireless industry business practices in both the Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees, Copps told Broadband Policy Summit attendees Thursday that he would accede to the senators' request.
"We must open a proceeding to examine exclusive wireless handset agreements," Copps said, so consumers can "reap the benefits of a robust marketplace."
In a statement posted Tuesday on his website, Kerry had specifically singled out AT&T's iPhone and Verizon's BlackBerry Storm as prime examples of handset exclusivity agreements limiting consumers' choice of carrier.
Copps said he doesn't see any difference between how wireline and wireless broadband providers should treat customers' equipment choices, he said in an interview.
Wireless...
Read More »