August 2014

Wikimedia Wants You to Remember the Links Europe Wants You to Forget

Wikimedia, the nonprofit behind Wikipedia, released a list of its links that Google has removed from its search engine in accordance with Europe’s “right to be forgotten” law.

The list included Wikipedia pages for an accused Irish bank robber nicknamed the “Monk,” as well as an Italian mobster. Wikimedia said that it has received five notifications from Google, three of which involved organized crime. “We will put the notices up as they come in, in order to be sure that people can find out what information is not being made available to them,” said Katherine Maher, a spokeswoman for Wikimedia. Geoff Brigham, general counsel for Wikimedia, likened “right to be forgotten” to a law that required libraries to remove records from the card catalog while leaving the offending books on the shelves. “We don’t think that makes any sense,” he said. “It has delegated the protection of the right of freedom of expression to private search engine companies.”

In Amazon’s shopping cart: DC influence

Amazon rarely shies away from a fight, whether it’s battling publishers to conquer the e-book market or warding off investors who want the company to deliver bigger profits. But Amazon increasingly is shipping those hardball tactics to Washington, where it is fighting agencies and wooing regulators more than ever before.

The company has boosted its political machine, hiring a crop of new lobbyists and writing bigger checks to members of Congress. It recently retained a powerhouse firm in Washington (DC) to lobby the Federal Aviation Administration on delivery drones and has flexed its muscle to win a key government technology contract. CEO Jeff Bezos, meanwhile, raised his Beltway profile through his personal purchase of The Washington Post in 2013.

Harry Reid, Title II, and The Rashomon Effect

[Commentary] Free Press and the like have done their best to paint Sec 706 authority as somehow anti-net neutrality and Title II as the only “real” network neutrality and unfortunately much of the popular media has taken up this view. But just because they have convinced John Oliver does not mean it is established fact that Title II is the only way to get strong net neutrality rules that protect the open Internet. Everyone (Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler included) supports an open Internet whereby, in President Barack Obama’s words, the “next Google or the next Facebook can succeed.” There is no way such a statement can be read as an endorsement of the extreme step to Title II. Vague statements in support of the open Internet have no bearing on the jurisdictional hook the FCC should use.

Cellphone Carriers Are Fighting a Plan to Make It Easier to Locate 911 Callers

The nation's biggest cellphone carriers -- including Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint -- are opposing a government proposal that aims to save lives by making it easier for emergency responders to locate 911 callers.

The companies say they lack the technology to implement the plan -- which would require them to quickly find a way to deliver more accurate location information -- and they're working on a better, long-term solution.

Broadcasters hit back on ownership rules

Radio and TV broadcasters issued a formal rebuke to the Federal Communications Commission’s restrictions on company ownership. The FCC should “recognize and come to grips” with the changes that have taken place in the media market over the last eight years, the National Association of Broadcasters said.

WGAW to FCC: Keep Ownership Rules

TV writers appear happy with the Federal Communications Commission's long-running script for broadcast station owners, which is to limit ownership and crossownership.

In comments to the FCC on its combined 2010 and 2014 quadrennial media ownership rule review, the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) said that protecting the public interest means the FCC must retain rules that "limit duopolies, prohibit mergers of the top four local broadcast stations, restrict newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership and prevent any of the top four broadcast networks from merging are necessary to maintain both local market and national competition."

WGAW says that consolidation and the control of media by a "handful" of companies is the biggest threat to freedom of speech, and that the FCC has a "special obligation" to promote a diverse and competitive broadcast market.

The man who can see the Internet

Doug Madory is the senior analyst of Renesys, a small New Hampshire-based firm specializing in what it calls "Internet intelligence." Madory writes much of the company's coverage of news events.

Madory and his colleagues have the rare ability to see in real time where a nation is situated in the global digital fabric.

The insights found into which dictator has kicked his country off the Internet for how long is a byproduct of Renesys's core work of selling information on the flow of Internet traffic to Internet service providers. But by monitoring the Internet's vital signs, the company can see how the ever-evolving global network of networks fits into global events.

Research shows men are more likely to shop on mobile than women

It turns out that men shop online just as much as women do, and they are more likely to make purchases through their mobile devices compared to women, according to a recent BI Intelligence report.

Although 57 percent of US women and 52 percent of men made a purchase online in 2013, men tend to make more purchases on their smartphones and tablets than women.

According to a study conducted by SeeWhy, 22 percent of men bought something on their phones while 18 percent of women did; 20 percent of men made purchases on their tablets, compared with only 17 percent of women.

Public Knowledge Initiates Open Internet Complaints Against AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon

Public Knowledge filed letters with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon as the first step in the formal open Internet complaint process with the Federal Communications Commission.

The complaint is in relation to AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon’s practice of throttling wireless data subscribers with “unlimited” data plans, as well as T-Mobile’s practice of exempting speed test applications from throttling.

Sprint and Verizon violate the transparency rule by failing to meaningfully disclose which subscribers will be eligible for throttling. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon violate the transparency rule by failing to disclose which areas of the network are congested, thus subject to throttling. T-Mobile violates the transparency rule by preventing throttled subscribers from determining the actual network speed available to them.

Putting the Open Internet Transparency Rule to the Test

Public Knowledge sent letters to AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon as the first step in the process of filing open Internet complaints against each of them at the Federal Communications Commisson.

The letters address violations of the FCC’s transparency requirements, which are the only part of the open Internet rules that survived court challenge.

Specifically, they call on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon to make information available about which subscribers have their wireless data connections throttled and where that throttling happens.

The letter to T-Mobile calls on it to stop exempting speed test apps from its practice of throttling some users, thus preventing them from understanding actual network speeds available to them.

These letters are the first step in the open Internet rule formal complaint process. Once ten days have passed, PK can file a formal complaint to the FCC. At that point, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon will each have an opportunity to reply to the complaint, and PK will have the opportunity to reply to that reply.

Of course, that process can stop at any time. As soon as AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and or Verizon comply with the transparency rule, PK will drop our complaint.

Benton

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