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Headlines, Telecom
Verizon: Network Neutrality fans suffer from 'paranoia'
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 19, 2008 - 5:57pmLast updated: August 19, 2008 - 5:58pm
Verizon Chief Technology Officer Dick Lynch spoke at the Progress and Freedom Foundation's annual summit in Aspen (CO) Tuesday. He urged a "change in mindset on the part of policymakers to acknowledge the realities of the 100-megabit world" and suggested that other industry participants be pragmatic as well.
FiOS' Future Depends on New Broadband Applications
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 19, 2008 - 7:28amLast updated: August 19, 2008 - 7:28am
In many ways, the long-term success of FiOS will depend on what new services are developed that will take advantage of the vast bandwidth of the fiber and how much customers will pay for them.
Music, movie lobbyists push to spy on your Net traffic
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 19, 2008 - 7:25amLast updated: August 19, 2008 - 7:25am
Recording industry and motion picture lobbyists are renewing their push to convince broadband providers to monitor customers and detect copyright infringements, claiming the concept is working abroad and should be adopted in the United States.
McCain's Tech Policy Silent on his former pro-Internet Initiatives
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 18, 2008 - 7:07pmLast updated: August 18, 2008 - 8:34pm
Missing from Sen John McCain's technology plan are two McCain pro-Internet initiatives -- the McCain Lautenberg Community Broadband Act and Spectrum Re-regulation. In summary, the McCain plan says, "What's good for AT&T and Comcast and Cisco and the RIAA is good for America." It's about their Internet, not ours.
McCain Adviser/Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman Silent On Campaign's Opposition To Net Neutrality
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 18, 2008 - 7:06pmLast updated: August 18, 2008 - 7:07pm
Some have suggested that Sen John McCain (R-AZ) could still put forward sound technology policy because he surrounds himself with tech-savvy advisers, such as former Hewlett-Packard chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina and former eBay president and CEO Meg Whitman. But it's unclear how much he is listening to them.
Qwest appeals FCC ruling
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 18, 2008 - 7:20amLast updated: August 18, 2008 - 7:21am
Local telecommunications providers may be facing a protracted battle in Qwest's fight to deregulate the fees it charges them to use its lines and equipment. Forbearance would have meant Qwest no longer was required to charge wholesale rates to competitors, as required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Companies Win, Consumers Lose in McCain's Tech Plan
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 17, 2008 - 7:22pmLast updated: August 17, 2008 - 7:23pm
John McCain's Internet is a strange and wondrous world, not like the Internet most people experience. It's a place not for innovation and creativity, but one to be controlled by the telephone and cable companies.
The great untethering
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 14, 2008 - 8:10amLast updated: August 14, 2008 - 8:10am
The land-line telephone is marked for imminent obsolescence. The phone companies are adding mountains of wireless customers as fast as they're losing land-liners, as millions of young whippersnappers switch to using their cell phones exclusively (or, more accurately, never order up a land-line in the first place).
McDowell Links Net Neutrality, Fairness Doctrine, and the Election
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 13, 2008 - 4:27pmLast updated: August 13, 2008 - 4:28pm
Following a speech to bloggers at the conservative Heritage Foundation, in which he discussed Internet policy and the Federal Communications Commission's recent ruling against Comcast, Commissioner Robert McDowell warned that an effort to reimpose the defunct Fairness Doctrine could sync up with efforts to regulate network management, resulting in "government dictating content policy" on the Web.
McDowell's Scare Tactics Reach New Low
Submitted by Benton Foundation on August 13, 2008 - 4:25pmLast updated: August 13, 2008 - 4:29pm
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell increasingly sounds like a man stranded on a desert island, willing to say anything to get a ride back to shore. In recent remarks, Commissioner McDowell has tried to tie Network Neutrality and the Fairness Doctrine (which at one time regulated equal airtime for diverse perspectives in broadcast media), saying they are both about content regulation.
