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Even as France looks set to scrap its three-strikes antipiracy scheme known as HADOPI, US Internet providers are inching forward with their milder "six strikes" program. But the head of that effort says the system is about education, and it is coming by the end of the year.
Last year, the newly formed Center for Copyright Information (CCI), along with major ISPs across the US and representatives from the recording and film industries, agreed to come up with a six-stage warning scheme that would progressively impose warnings—and eventually penalties—on alleged online copyright infringers. Collectively, once deployed, the system could cover 75 percent of all American Internet users. The Copyright Alert System, as it’s formally known, was originally slated to deploy by the end of December 2011, a date that was then pushed back to July 2012. Now the CCI’s head, Jill Lesser, tells Ars the group is on track to launch by the end of the year. However, Lesser provided scant new details about the program.
"Six strikes" Internet warning system will come to US this year
Last time Vodafone Group said no to subsidizing a new iPhone on Apple’s terms, consumers across Europe fled to operators that offered discounts and the handset became one of the most popular devices in history. As Apple unveils a new version of the iPhone, carriers want to avoid that mistake from five years ago.
Vodafone and peers including Telefonica, having started moving away from subsidizing smartphones this year in markets such as Spain and the U.K., may be compelled back to compete on prices. The handset will meet such pent-up demand that some carriers will be tempted to offer it at a reduced price to win market share. That threatens to force others out of their savings tactics, pushing the industry back into a margin- battering discount war. Subsidies cost European carriers 12 percent to 14 percent of their wireless revenue, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Industries.
New iPhone Threatens to Reheat European Carrier Price War
Apple is expected to unveil its latest iPhone, but the talk on Capitol Hill isn’t about Cupertino — it’s about China.
Lawmakers of both parties have long complained that China’s tech companies aren’t playing by the rules of fair trade. The latest example is Goophone, a Chinese company that makes a device that looks and feels a lot like the iPhone 5. Some in Washington have seized on Goophone as the quintessential example of what is wrong with international enforcement of American intellectual property rights, the perils of a global supply chain and the barriers U.S. companies face when trying to access the Chinese market. “China is in a whale of a fight if they think they can steal the iPhone,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), an iPhone user, told POLITICO. “This should be a warning to those seeking to manufacture in China to save a buck.”
Too-familiar ring to Chinese devices
Apple's iPhone may be the first choice of the smartphone smart set in much of the developed world. But the status symbol and pop-culture icon of choice from Johannesburg to Jakarta remains the BlackBerry, whose cheap and dependable BBM still reigns in many emerging economies. The BlackBerry phenomenon is blazing across the developing world at a time when the brand has long fizzled in much of the developed world.
In These Countries, BlackBerry Is Still King—Of Pop Culture
Has Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski changed his mind on the acceptability of data caps?
As far back as 2010 he defended the idea of wireline Internet service providers using broadband usage caps as part of the network neutrality order and did so again in May at The Cable Show when he reiterated the position. The chairman has said he doesn’t mind the caps and is in favor of ISPs having the opportunity to experiment with different business models, but last night at a Silicon valley event it seemed like his mind has changed. When asked about the impact of data caps on broadband innovation and how his thinking had evolved on the topic, the chairman said he was concerned about data caps. He added, “Anything that depresses broadband usage is something that we need to be really concerned about.” And he further said, “We should all be concerned with anything that is incompatible with the psychology of abundance.” Wow, that’s three “concerns” in a single answer, but does this mean the chairman is set to recognize the potential harms of data caps and goad the commission into any action? That’s less clear. The FCC did signal that the cap issue is one that bears watching last month when it released a notice that asked the public how it should view caps when the agency was measuring broadband quality.
FCC Chairman: I’m concerned about data caps
According to Federal Communications Commission sources, the draft framework for spectrum incentive auctions assumes that the repacking model it adopts will result, "generally" in less than a 2% loss of coverage are for stations that are moved or consolidated to free up spectrum for auction.
By statute, the FCC must make all reasonable efforts to preserve coverage areas and interference protections for stations that opt to retain some or all of their spectrum. While the language could change between now and the planned Sept. 28 vote on the notice of proposed rulemaking, the item currently anticipates, based on the FCC's experience with moving and repacking stations for the 2009 DTV transition, that the move will "generally impact less than 2% of a station's coverage area," although it does seek comment on that.
FCC NPRM Draft: Repacked Stations Generally to Retain at Least 98% of Coverage Area
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski held an online Q&A session from Twitter headquarters, telling Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) that Internet freedom is vital for innovators and speakers and a "day 1 priority of mine."
Sen Rubio had tweeted the following: "What is FCC doing to help preserve Internet freedom at #WCIT? Must oppose Internet regulation and expanding #ITU authority." FCC Chairman Genachowski and Sen Rubio are pretty much on the same page, as are Republicans and Democrats in general, on the need for continuing a multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance. The WCIT reference is to the upcoming ITU World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai.
AdWeek reports that Chairman Genachowski’s foray into social media bombed as Genachowski—set to take questions via a Twitter chat at 1:30 p.m. for a half hour—failed to show for the first 20 minutes. Apparently, Chairman Genachowski wasn't tagging his answers with the #askjulius hashtag that participants were using to send him questions. As a result, the discussion, at least for those following the #askjulius hashtag, devolved into a lot of snark.
FCC’s Genachowski, Sen Rubio on Same Page About Expanding ITU Authority Over Internet #AskJulius Chat Turns Into No Chat (AdWeek)
In a memo to members of the House Commerce Committee's Communications Subcommittee, staffers for the Republican majority signaled to the Obama administration that it should focus on clearing spectrum from government users rather than encouraging them to share spectrum with commercial users.
A recent National Telecommunications & Information Administration report on freeing up that spectrum suggested sharing should be an important part of that plan, a point echoed by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). NTIA has said that clearing spectrum could cost $18 billion and take ten years, which was one of the reasons it suggested sharing should be part of the equation as a way to free it up more quickly and at less expense. But the staff memo says NTIA has conceded that estimate was not based on independent analysis, and may be inflated and inaccurate.
Republican Staffers: Clearing Spectrum, Not Sharing, Is Priority
Motorola has been overly dependent on Verizon's business ever since the launch of the original Droid. At the time, both Verizon and Google were hoping to stop the onslaught of the iPhone on AT&T, without much success: Verizon originally bet on RIM's BlackBerry Storm to predictably disappointing results, and Google had yet to catch fire with Android in any real way. The original Droid, developed by Motorola in deep collaboration with Google, changed the fortunes of all three companies, and turned Android into a market force to be reckoned with. But the real collaboration was between Google and Verizon: in return for Verizon agreeing to push Android as the main competitor to the iPhone, Google radically softened its stance on network neutrality. Verizon's marketing muscle, thrown behind the original Droid and Droids since, has buttressed Motorola and was the driving force behind whatever modest success the company had before being acquired by Google. With little apology to Motorola's phones on other US carriers, it's clear that the Droid brand — controlled by Verizon — drives Motorola's business and, more importantly, its business decisions. And if Motorola was a bit of a puppet before, the "new Motorola" just shines a spotlight on the strings that were always there.
Can Google's 'new Motorola' break free of Verizon?
The Senate Judiciary Committee will finally take action this month on legislation that would update a pair of privacy laws from the 1980s, including a measure dealing with government access to electronic communications.
The committee said that it would take up an update of the Video Privacy Protection Act, which the House passed in December, and attach provisions to that bill that would amend parts of the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, according to a Democratic aide. ECPA set standards for law-enforcement access to electronic communications. Many privacy advocates and tech firms argue that the bill is woefully out of date and that it offers inconsistent protections depending on the type of communications. For example, under current law, e-mail stored with a third-party provider such as Google or Yahoo that is older than 180 days can be accessed by law-enforcement officials without a warrant, while a document stored on a home computer for the same amount of time would require a warrant. Several privacy groups and tech firms formed the Digital Due Process coalition a few years ago to push Congress to update the law. They argue that the out-of-date protections in ECPA for access to e-mail and other electronics could hamper the growth of cloud computing and other technologies.
Senate Judiciary to Take Up Privacy Legislation