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By the Staff of BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2010 – The FCC launched its consumer broadband test today, enabling consumers to test the speed and other performance measurements of their broadband connections. Users will randomly be assigned to one of two speed and measurement tests when they visit www.broadband.gov. One of the tests will utilize the open source Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT) developed by Internet2, a consortium of researchers. BroadbandCensus.com has been using the NDT speed test since February 2008. The other test, uses Ookla, Inc.'s Speedtest.net, has been used by Communications Workers of America's SpeedMatters.org web site since 2007. “Transparency empowers consumers, promotes innovation and investment, and encourages competition,” said Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. “The FCC’s new digital tools will arm users with real-time information about their broadband connection and the agency with useful data about service across the country," he said. "By informing consumers about their broadband service quality, these tools help eliminate confusion and make the market work more effectively.” The FCC also said that it did not endorse any specific testing application. In addition to the "Consumer Broadband Test," the FCC on Thursday also launched a mobile application -- a first for the agency...

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By the Staff of BroadbandCensus.com

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday released the agenda and speakers for its upcoming workshop, “From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?” The workshop has been organized to consider the emerging issues of an increasingly internet oriented society. As more consumers turn to the internet for news and information, print news organizations have begun to struggle with the declining ad market. Besides the simple economics of the matter, as online news expands many wonder how the two news formats can successfully coexist. “The workshop will consider a wide range of issues,” stated an FTC news release, “including: the economics of journalism in print and online; the wide variety of new business and non-profit models for journalism online; factors relevant to the new economic realities for news organizations, such as behavioral and other targeted online advertising, online news aggregators, and bloggers; and the ways in which the costs of journalism could be reduced without reducing quality. The just-released agenda will feature a diverse group of speakers to discuss these topics. These participants include Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corp. and Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post. Other panelists represent groups...

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By Winter Casey, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com

November 16, 2009 - Speaking in a country known for its internet censorship policies and heavy-handed government involvement in communications technologies, President Obama repeatedly took the time to voice his support for an “open internet” in Shanghai on Monday.

“So I'm a big supporter of not restricting internet use, internet access, other information technologies like Twitter. The more open we are, the more we can communicate. And it also helps to draw the world together,” said Obama.

“And so I've always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I'm a big supporter of non-censorship. This is part of the tradition of the United States that I discussed before, and I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet -- or unrestricted internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged,” he continued.

Obama delivered his remarks to four hundred-plus Chinese youth as well as thousands of others who attended the event virtually through events organized by the U.S. Embassy and Consulates. The question related to Internet use was delivered by U.S. Ambassador to China Jon...

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By Winter Casey, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, November 15, 2009 - The Food and Drug Administration last week considered how regulated medical products such as prescription drugs for humans or animals should be promoted on the Internet and through the use of social media tools. “The FDA has been widely criticized for not providing guidance for drug companies eager to promote their products on the internet,” according to Kate Greenwood, a faculty member of Seton Hall University School of Law’s Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law & Policy. “In recent months, the FDA has indicated that it is open to providing internet-specific marketing guidance,” she said. The FDA held a two-day public hearing to gather feedback from interested parties in order to “help guide FDA in making policy decisions on the promotion of human and animal prescription drugs and biologics and medical devices using the Internet and social media tools.” In April the FDA sent a number of warning letters to companies with sponsored ad links on Google, telling them their ads were in violation of the law and asking that they be taken down. During the meeting, Google proposed a new design for FDA-related approved ads that...

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By Winter Casey, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, November 15, 2009 - The government of the United Kingdom defined the term “carbon neutral” this month after holding a public consultation on the subject. The Department of Energy and Climate Change, which was established in 2008, said that “carbon neutral means that – through a transparent process of calculating emissions, reducing those emissions and offsetting residual emissions – net carbon emissions equal zero.” The term “carbon neutral” has been used by a number of prominent UnitedStates companies – including tech firms such as Yahoo, Google, and Dell -- but what exactly the phrase means has not been clear. The David Suzuki Foundation, for example, holds that “Going carbon neutral is an easy way to take responsibility for the greenhouse gas emissions we create every time we drive our cars, take a plane, or turn on our computers. It's based on the principle that, since climate change is a global problem, an emission reduction made elsewhere has the same positive effect as one made locally. Here's how it works: if you add polluting emissions to the atmosphere, you can effectively subtract them by purchasing 'carbon offsets'.” Yahoo has defined its goal of going...

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By Winter Casey, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, November 14, 2009 - Google and related parties have reached a revised settlement agreement concerning Google’s project to make library books available online. “We're disappointed that we won't be able to provide access to as many books from as many countries through the settlement as a result of our modifications, but we look forward to continuing to work with rightsholders from around the world to fulfill our longstanding mission of increasing access to all the world's books,” wrote Google Books Engineering Director Dan Clancy in a blog entry posted Friday at 11:54 p.m. Eastern time. The revised agreement is the latest update in a case that has gone on since 2005 when a number of publishers and authors’ associations launched a class action lawsuit against Google in U.S. courts for its plan to scan millions of library books and make them accessible online. Google has contended that its project protects copyright holders “by making sure that when users find a book under copyright, they see only a card catalog-style entry providing basic information about the book and no more than two or three sentences of text surrounding the search...

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By Mercy Gakii, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com

WASHINGTON, November 13, 2009 - Access charges are well above the actual costs to connect telephone calls, despite the efforts made by the Federal Communications Commission, said Andy Regitsky of Regitsky and Associates, in a webinar presentation on “Access Charges and Network costs - A Guide to FCC Reform,” hosted by CCMI. “The FCC is not ready to give control over access charges which have been flawed for the 25 years of their existence,” said Regitsky. Regitsky said that access reform is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed, with the national broadband plan due to be presented to Congress in February 2010. The plan will likely require universal service changes. Most internet telephone companies – including Google Voice – have become enmeshed in controversy for refusing to pay access charges for terminating some voice calls. Currently, he said, the FCC must work with different state public utility commissions on the thorny question of equalizing telephone calls that cross state lines and those that stay within the boundaries of a particular territory. Interstate calls are under the jurisdiction of the FCC, and access charges for those calls tend to be lower than calls within a state. “If...

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By the Staff of BroadbandCensus.com

Google is now a wireless carrier, working with airports across the country to provide free wireless from now through January 15, the company said Tuesday. Currently, the wireless will be available in 47 airports including: Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis and Charlotte. Google is working with Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, Airport Marketing Income and others on the initiative. Google further said it will give network users the option to donate to Engineers Without Borders, the One Economy Corporation or the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. The company said it will match donations made across all the networks up to $250,000, and the airport network that generates the highest amount per passenger by January 1 will receive $15,000 to donate to the local nonprofit of their choice. Google is also partnering with Virgin America to provide free wireless on every Virgin America flight between November 10 and January...

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