Tag Archives: Internet Service
Cable And Telecom Firms Score A Huge Win In Their War To Kill Municipal Broadband
by Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times
“ISPs, especially Comcast and AT&T, have lobbied for these restrictions all over the country,” says Andrew Jay Schwartzman, a veteran telecommunications consumer advocate. Read More ›
Cable And Telecom Companies Just Lost A Huge Court Battle On Net Neutrality
by Brian Fung, Washington Post
The court verdict puts to rest — for now — a key question: Whether the Internet represents a vital communications platform that deserves to be regulated with the same scrutiny as the common networks of the past, such as the telephone system. Read More ›
AB 2395: AT&T Wants To Disconnect Millions Of California Landlines
According to the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee, about 16.5 million traditional copper land lines remain in service in California. AT&T’s bill would create a pathway for phone companies to abandon residential land lines in 2020, even in areas where an adequate alternative phone option does not exist. While many consumers now have cell phones or IP phones as well as land lines, about 2.3 million Californians live in a home that only has a landline. AB 2395 will eliminate both customer choice and the current requirements for Carriers of Last Resort that ensure all Californians have access to reliable essential phone services. Read More ›
CFC Applauds FCC Move To Protect Broadband Privacy
“Today’s vote is a significant advance for privacy protection. Consumers should decide whether their online activities and other personal data are shared with third-party strangers,” CFC Executive Director Richard Holober said. “It is essential that any final FCC rule prohibits broadband carriers from charging extra for privacy. Privacy is a right that should not be available only to the wealthy.” Read More ›
Proposed FCC Rules Would Limit How Internet Service Providers Can Use Your Data
by Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times
“Simply by using the Internet, you have no choice but to share large amounts of personal information with your broadband provider,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in an article on the Huffington Post. “You have a right to know what information is being collected about you and how that information is being used. … If you have a mobile device, your provider can track your physical location throughout the day in real time. … The bottom line is that it’s your data,” he said. “How it’s used and shared should be your choice.” Read More ›
FCC Cracks Down On Verizon Wireless For Using ‘Supercookies’
by Andrea Peterson, Washington Post
The practice came to the public’s attention in late 2014, when it received criticism from privacy advocates who called the code a “supercookie” because it was almost impossible for users to avoid. … Last January, researcher Jonathan Mayer revealed evidence that others could hijack the supercookie for their own purposes: An online advertising company called Turn was using the codes to help follow people around online, he said. Turn used the supercookie to “respawn” its traditional cookies — even if users took steps to protect their privacy by removing the cookies. Read More ›
CFC, Other Groups Urge FCC To Protect Personal Privacy From Internet, Telecom and Cable Companies
The letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler rejects the looser regulatory framework advocated by broadband Internet service providers (ISPs). The ISPs’ approach relies in large part on existing Federal Trade Commission rules that have done little to restrain ISPs’ aggressive mining of their subscribers’ data for marketing purposes, the consumer and privacy groups warn. ISPs such as Verizon, Comcast and Cox can exploit the personal data they amass on Web surfers, cable and streaming television viewers and smartphone users – not just marketing to their own customers but also selling the information to third parties. Read More ›
FCC’s Net Neutrality Plan Alarms Critics, But It’s Nothing New
by David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times
“For more than 20 years, wireless phone companies have not only survived but thrived under similar FCC rules for voice communication,” said Emily Rusch, executive director of the California Public Interest Research Group. “The FCC’s new proposal on broadband protects an open Internet for all consumers.” … “The phone and cable companies want to dictate terms to content providers,” said Mark Toney, executive director of the Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco advocacy group. “They want to call all the shots.” Read More ›
Shifting Politics Of Net Neutrality Debate Ahead Of FCC. Vote
by Jonathan Weisman, The New York Times
The arcane fight over net neutrality is about to burst into the open. House and Senate panels will hold hearings on Wednesday pitting the heads of the cable television and wireless lobbies against Amazon and scrappy little Etsy, an online craft market. Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican who now heads the commerce committee, hopes to have legislation ready the following week — ahead of the F.C.C.’s February meeting and what Internet activists are calling “the most important F.C.C. vote of our lifetime.” Read More ›
Comcast Sued For Turning Home Wi-Fi Routers Into Public Hotspots
by Benny Evangelista, San Francisco Chronicle
The suit claims the company turns the service on without permission and places “the costs of its national Wi-Fi network onto its customers.” … Tests showed that under heavy use, the secondary channel adds 30 to 40 percent more costs to a customer’s electricity bill than the modem itself, the suit said. The suit also said “the data and information on a Comcast customer’s network is at greater risk” because the hotspot network “allows strangers to connect to the Internet through the same wireless router used by Comcast customers.” Read More ›
Do You Trust Telecom Industry? That’s Why We Need Open Internet
by David Lazarus, Los Angeles Times
Not surprisingly, the telecom industry’s knee-jerk, sky-is-falling response to the president’s words blew the entire matter out of proportion. Obama isn’t calling for the digital masses to rise up and seize the means of network production. All he’s saying is that the Federal Communications Commission should have the authority to make sure that telecom companies keep the Internet open and accessible to all and to make sure that no business behemoth — a Netflix, say, or Amazon.com — can shell out big bucks for fast-lane preferential treatment. Read More ›
America Pays More For Internet, Gets Slower Speeds, Than Other Countries
by Gerry Smith, Huffington Post
Consumers who can get such service don’t have to worry about videos buffering or websites loading. They can share large files in seconds and take advantage of new offerings in online education and health care that require fast access. … The New America Foundation’s report highlights how city-owned networks are becoming more competitive with the offerings from Internet providers around the world. … But many cities are banned from creating their own Internet service. Read More ›