politics

Politics on the Internet

September 28, 2008

The first presidential debate was streamed live, which just shows you that the Internet is becoming a mainstream news and entertainment outlet. YouTube has channels for both candidates. Both parties are working the websites, forums, "social networks", etc. to get the message out and spread the word.

Posted in Internet, broadband, politics

What a Crazy Wall St. Monday

September 15, 2008

As we start Monday, we learn that Lehman Bros. filed for BK, AIG needs to re-structure (and needs another $40B! after raising $20B) and Merrill Lynch gets bought by BoA for $50B. This follows on the heels of last week's Freddie Mac and Fannie May take over by the Fed.

Interesting note from USA Today, " When Bank of America balked at buying Lehman, the government urged it to buy Merrill instead."

Oh, and Ike smashed much of Houston, but oil still dropped below $100 per barrel.

Yesterday, Greenspan, on ABC's This Week with George, said that this is "by far" the worst economic crisis he has ever seen.

Posted in off topic, politics

Network Management, DPI, Whatever

September 4, 2008

Here's the thing that most folks don't understand. The main responsibility, duty, and sanction of Congress and any Federal Agency (like the FTC and FCC) is to protect the Consumer. The end user. Remember it is By and For the People.

Posted in FCC, Internet, bandwidth, cableco, politics

Obama-Biden

August 25, 2008

Obama is probably the candidate with the most tech-savvy staff. Ron Paul was better, but unfortunately for the US, he is not running any more. Instead we again have two choices that make me weep. How did 20+ candidates come down to just these 2?

Posted in off topic, politics

FCC, Comcast and Muddy Water

August 5, 2008

The FCC made a ruling on Comcast's network management (or P2P traffic interference). There are 2 blogs that give an excellent view of the ruling - one is from OpenID and the other from Prof. Susan Crawford.

I wonder why they just don't use the Common Carriage definition. If cable is a Common Carrier like telcos then stuff like DPI and traffic interference are a no-no. What? You mean Embarq and others are infringing on Common Carriage with something like NebuAd and Sandvine? No. Couldn't be. Not with the FCC around protecting the consumer and stuff. Oh, wait. ILEC's have a hall pass. I forgot.

UPDATE: Kevin Martin 's Open Network Manifesto on NYT.

Posted in FCC, bandwidth, broadband, cableco, duopoly, politics

All Depends, Doesn't It?

August 4, 2008

"Noah S. "Soggy" Sweat, Jr., a former judge and lawyer whose 1952 "Whiskey Speech" became a monument to political double-talk, died Friday after a battle with Parkinson's disease." When you read his speech, you will see that perspective is everything. Like so many issues we face today, it is all in how you paint (or spin) it. Have a Good Day!

Posted in politics

NebuAd under Deep Inspection

July 2, 2008

First there was wiretaps at the telco central offices. Then there was Sandvine and DPI (deep packet inspection) to help curb Peer-to-peer file-sharing (BitTorrent) that was consuming all available bandwidth with piracy (according to the puppet masters at the MPAA and RIAA). Now there is NebuAd, where DPI meets targeted advertising. And Privacy is just a thing of the past.

Posted in Internet, politics, security, telco

VZ-NJ vs. TeleTruth

June 27, 2008

Bruce Kushnick has been fighting Verizon in the Northeast for years through is TeleTruth organization. Here is the latest:

Verizon, New Jersey has filed to increase various costs of local phone service. The New Jersey Board of Utilities (BPU) should not accept Verizon's proposal to raise local rates.

Posted in politics, telco

DSL Anti-Trust

June 23, 2008

Supreme Court [finally] To Investigate If AT&T Is Violating Antitrust Laws With Wholesale DSL Pricing

TechDirt writes about the Supreme Court deciding to accept the Appeal of PacWest (now called AT&T) in its anti-trust battle with an ISP named LinkLine.

"A series of lawsuits followed, including an appeals court ruling that found that AT&T was abusing monopoly rights to offer prices that were simply out of line with market pricing -- making it effectively impossible for any other provider to compete. AT&T has appealed and now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

Posted in broadband, politics, telco

Lobbying and FISA

March 25, 2008

Telecomweb reports on a study into the lobbying effort behind FISA bills. I'm only peripherally following the FISA bills. (David Isenberg is all over it on his Blog). The main gist is that the telcos want retro-active immunity for wiretapping everyone and everything. (So does the White House). But that kind of goes against the grain. It passed the Senate but thankfully the House is holding strong. (It would have been nice if the 3 senators running for office had voted on the FISA bill.

Posted in politics

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