mediageek

Category: networks

  • What Does BitTorrent Think of Comcast Now?

    I’m in San Jose, CA for Streaming Media West, an online media conference, which begins tomorrow. I’m very interested in hearing tomorrow’s keynote by Ashwin Navin, President & Co-Founder of BitTorrent, who is talking about how a commercial P2P network can be used to distribute legal audio and video content. I hope he’ll address the…

  • This Blog Could Terminate My DSL

    Ars Technica reports on a change in the terms of service for AT&T broadband customers that gives the company the company to terminate service for anyone who “tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.” Yes, it’s overbroad, overly vague, and therefore probably too difficult to enforce across…

  • Federal Consolidation Commissioner

    It isn’t enough to drag his feet on obligations to inform and engage the public on the media ownership proceeding. Now FCC Chair Kevin Martin is ready to sign off on the proposed AT&T – BellSouth merger without imposing a single condition. While he may have a bit more political savvy than his predecessor, Martin…

  • Hitting the Congresscritters at Home for Net Neutrality

    SavetheInternet details actions in 25 cities where folks hit up their Senators to urge support for network neutrality. Apparently there was success in New York, with Sen. Charles Schumer announcing support for net neutrality, and Iowa, where Sen. Tom Harkin did likewise. Now, both those guys are Democrats, which in the Senate, at least, have…

  • Taking a Peek under the Astroturf

    Common Cause has been keeping tabs on the faux-grassroots Astroturf groups like Hands off the Internet and TV4US.org which have been lobbying on behalf of the big telcos with the smokescreen that there’s enormous public support for a national cable franchise and against network neutrality. Now Common Cause has released a new report compiling dossiers…

  • radioshow news headline: SENATE TELECOMM BILL STILL GOING NOWHERE

    From the Aug. 4, 2006 edition of the mediageek radioshow: The Senate Telecomm bill which would create a national cable franchise is no closer to a vote than it has been all Summer. One factor holding up the bill are Democrat threats of a hold or filibuster. Majority leader Bill Frist won’t let the bill…

  • Lying Liars on Network Neutrality

    Techdirt properly points the finger at liar Mike McCurry, current mouthpiece for the big telcos, for his farcical Op-Ed attacking network neutrality in the Baltimore Sun: Among the whoppers in the editorial: “The “neutral” proposal that companies like Google are touting will ensure that they never have to pay a dime no matter how much…

  • From Today’s Radioshow: Net Neutrality Debate and Daily Show Segments

    On today’s radioshow we listened to excerpts from a debate on Net Neutrality between two founders of the internet, Vint Cerf, in defense of net neutrality, and Dave Farber, speaking against it. The debate was sponsored by the Center for American Progress, and you can find an mp3 of the whole debate at the Public…

  • Tubes, not Trucks — Sen. Stevens Explains the Internets

    One of the most wonderful things about the Senate Commerce Committee is that it is chaired by a doddering old man from Alaska who rarely demonstrates a clear understanding of the technologies his committee oversees. Not that we should be surprised about relative tech ignorance on Capitol Hill, where enough Congresscritters were willingly bamboozled by…

  • One Step Closer to the Demise of the Record Button?

    In addition to the votes for LPFM and against net neutrality, the Senate Commerce Committee voted in favor of an amendment creating the broadcast flag for both radio/audio and TV/video. If you haven’t heard already, the broadcast flag would allow all content producers to effectively disable the record button on any digital device you own.…