Opinion: Constraining the Internet's freedom is necessary to stop online piracy fiercetelecom.com
Can Reddit Write Legislation, Too? Proposes The 'Free Internet Act' techdirt.com
Symantec says pcAnywhere safe, offers free upgrade reuters.com
Global broadband zooms, US penetration is over 80% gigaom.com
London named as worst UK city for 3G broadband speeds itproportal.com
LightSquared GPS Argument Up for Public Comment wirelessweek.com
Is AT&T jockeying for Dish's wireless spectrum? cnet.com
More Hints that Apple is Working on an NFC Payment System on the Next iPhone macrumors.com
Copyright Industry Calls For Broad Search Engine Censorship torrentfreak.com
Canada's capacity-based wholesale billing regulations go into effect Wednesday telegeography.com
DataJack Signs Comprehensive Distribution Agreement marketwatch.com
Row 44 to Deliver NFL Network and NFL RedZone on Commercial Flights marketwatch.com
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Monday Evening Links -
Posted: January 30th, 2012, 4:03pm MST
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New Wireless Privacy Bill Addresses CarrierIQ Fallout - 'Consumers Have the Right to Know and Say No...'
Posted: January 30th, 2012, 3:14pm MST
Responding to the CarrierIQ scandal, Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has released a draft (pdf) of a new cellphone privacy bill. The Mobile Device Privacy Act would give the FTC the authority to regulate monitoring software, give consumers the clear information about the use of such software, and require that third party vendors have clear standards when it comes to the storage of the information collected. According to a statement posted to Markey's website, Markey's primary focus of the bill is on disclosure and consent.
"Consumers have the right to know and to say 'no' to the presence of software on their mobile devices that can collect and transmit their personal and sensitive information," Markey said.
The problem, as we've noted more than a few times, is that with the collective lobbying power and wealth of the telecom, content, and advertising industries against privacy regulations, the chance of getting any bill with teeth actually passed (particularly if it requires opt in) is virtually non-existent.
Carriers traditionally argue they can self-regulate on this front, arguing that public shame will keep them honest. However, the effectiveness of this approach is made somewhat clear by the fact nobody knew CarrierIQ even existed on devices early last year, much less that any user data was being collected.
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Verizon: Expect FiOS Rate Hikes This Year - As Company Keeps Pace With Cable Rate Hike Season Festivities
Posted: January 30th, 2012, 1:31pm MST
With Verizon's FiOS build out largely suspended, the company is looking to ramp up subscriber totals in markets where FiOS already exists. On the TV front they're primarily trying to do that by trying to be a little more innovative in the DVR and set top space with widgets and GUI enhancements. Like any good cable company, Verizon is terrified of having to compete on price, though they have been aggressive in competitive markets (oh hi, Cablevision) with bundle pricing. Speaking to hike-loving investors and stock jocks, Verizon's CFO assured them FiOS users should expect price hikes this year:Verizon Communications will probably hike prices for some FiOS services this year, even as the telco looks to continue to drive up penetration of its fiber-optic video, data and voice services, chief financial officer Fran Shammo said on an earnings call with analysts. "I know folks are saying that we are overly competitive in pricing on FiOS . But what I would say is that the pricing has not actually changed," Shammo said on the call Tuesday. "And if anything, if you look at it, there was a price increase in 2011, and there will probably be some more price increases in 2012 as we go here."
Of course when Verizon and AT&T got into the market they promised lawmakers that if they greased their entry and re-wrote laws to their benefit (some of them incredibly awful), the end result would be lower cable TV prices, and we can all see how that turned out. Meanwhile, consumer advocates and competitors are worried Verizon Wireless's new deal with the cable industry includes a quiet non-compete agreement that would freeze added FiOS deployment and jack up prices for consumers.
That's something Verizon's CFO denies, insisting Verizon will continue to "compete vigorously" in the TV market. Granted in the TV business "compete vigorously" means non-price competition, with providers winking at one another whenever it's time to raise rates in unison.
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MetroPCS Shakes Up 'LTE' Pricing - Still Hard Upselling Their Own Content Services
Posted: January 30th, 2012, 11:10am MST
In late 2010 MetroPCS was the first mobile operator in the United States to launch LTE wireless broadband service. However, being first didn't mean it was necessarily good -- the company initially offering no data card service, no tethering, limited coverage, 3G-esque speeds and only one supported device: the underwhelming $300 Samsung Craft. While cheap, the plans raised the hackles of network neutrality advocates by charging for "unlimited" LTE that blocked off much of the Internet while offering "unlimited" Youtube access.
As 2012 arrived MetroPCS has shaken things up slightly, with the company offering a significantly better selection of smart phones, though still nowhere near the selection you'll find at major carriers. They've also shaken up pricing slightly, eliminating their $40 plans. Users interested in MetroPCS now have three options if they want LTE, all designed to upsell, nudge or otherwise shove you in the direction of MetroPCS's own Metro themed content offerings:
•$50: Unlimited talk, text, Metroweb, email, "with 1GB of multimedia streaming."
•$60: Unlimited talk, text, Metroweb, email "with unlimited multimedia streaming and Rhapsody Unlimited Music."
•$60: Unlimited talk, text, Metroweb and email "with unlimited multimedia streaming and MetroSTUDIO Video On Demand."
Note their MetroWeb service limits the number and type of websites users can visit, something shaped undoubtedly by their sparse spectrum holdings. As the market shifts toward more open networks, platforms, and application stores MetroPCS seems intent on late 90's era funneling of users to their particular, closed vision of their own Internet. It would be interesting to see just how many users are willing to pay a premium for content in MetroPCS's little walled garden Utopia.
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Wi-Fi Alliance Thinks 'Super Wi-Fi' Term Confusing - Wants White Space Folks to Stay Away From Their Brand
Posted: January 30th, 2012, 9:35am MST
Last week the Wireless Innovation Alliance (whose members include Microsoft, Google and Dell) announced that Wilmington, North Carolina was home to the first non-trial deployment of White Space broadband, a technology that makes use of the unlicensed spectrum vacated from the shift to digital television. In their release, the group called the technology "Super Wi-Fi," a term that was inaccurately affixed to the technology by FCC boss Julius Genachowski in 2010.
Apparently this designation annoyed the folks over at the Wi-Fi Alliance, who issued a press statement trying to crush the Super Wi-Fi moniker before the technology gets rolling. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, use of the term will sow confusion among users who might think the two technologies are compatible.
"The technology touted as 'Super Wi-Fi' does not interoperate with the billions of Wi-Fi devices in use today," warns the Wi-Fi Alliance, adding that "today s deployments in Television White Spaces do not deliver the same user experience as is available in Wi-Fi hotspots and home networks."
Trying to stop consumer confusion in such matters is kind of like trying to stop the rain, with most consumers not knowing what a gigabyte even is, much less capable of differentiating between technologies like Mobile WiMax and LTE (no thanks to the ITU and wireless marketing departments). The group is of course primarily concerned that the name is an unofficial use of the Wi-Fi brand, and was at least kind enough to issue a press release instead of immediately filing a lawsuit.
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Verizon Wireless Family Data Plans Coming Soon - Eventually Share Pooled Data Across Users, Devices
Posted: January 30th, 2012, 7:13am MST
Both Verizon and AT&T last year hinted more than a few times that they'd finally be joining the modern age by offering family data plans. Ideally the bucket-o-bytes approach would, like voice minutes, work across different family accounts and more importantly across devices, meaning no more annoying additional individual subscriptions for your tablet, handheld game console, or other device. While AT&T did recently announce a price hike, family plans were nowhere to be found during recent earnings announcements. Verizon in contrast does appear to be very close to family plan launch, according to leaked training materials posted to Engadget. There's no date, nor are the caveats noted (and you can be sure there will be some to offset the loss of per-device flat fee revenue), but at least the shift is in the pipeline.
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Time Warner: 1 Year of Free Phone to 50 Mbps Users - Though Offer Appears Restricted to New York City Market
Posted: January 30th, 2012, 6:09am MST
Time Warner Cable initially took their time deploying faster DOCSIS 3.0 speeds, priced them well beyond what most sane people were willing to pay (often in upscale "Signature Home" packages), then complained that the services weren't initially seeing quite the uptake they'd hoped for during a recession. That seems to be improving slightly in some markets (the company signed up 54,000 wideband subs in the fourth quarter), thanks in part to offers like the free Slingboxes they were giving out in NYC last year. In NYC they compete with Verizon's slowly-spreading FiOS footprint, and are also now offering an interesting deal: one free year of VoIP service for users who sign up for 50 Mbps broadband.
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Dutch ISPs Refuse to Filter Pirate Bay - Prepare to Face BREIN in Court
Posted: January 30th, 2012, 5:55am MST
Earlier this month the Court of The Hague, responding to a demand from Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN, ordered that Dutch ISPs had to filter access to the Pirate Bay. The ruling came despite arguments by leading ISPs in the country that the filters could compromise the security of their networks, threaten freedom of speech, and ultimately wouldn't work anyway. Now two large ISPs in the Netherlands, T-Mobile and KPN, have refused to block access to the website, arguing that the move is against the idea of an open Internet. "KPN doesn t believe a blockade is the right solution," the company said in a statement. "What is needed are robust, attractive business models that are easy to use and offer a fair deal to both producers and consumers of content."
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Time Warner Makes it Harder to Enjoy Their Product Via Netflix - Users Can't Add Coming Content to Queue
Posted: January 30th, 2012, 5:45am MST
As we've noted, instead of making their content easier to get, studios are making access via Netflix more cumbersome and difficult in the belief it will help sell more physical media. Time Warner recently convinced Netflix to extend the delay before the company can offer new release DVDs to 56 days, and stopped selling HBO discs directly at a discount. Now Time Warner has convinced Netflix to make it so users can't even add the coming new releases to their queue until 28 days after DVD release. While the belief is that they'll be driving more customers to buy physical DVDs, the reality is that they're driving users to piracy (then signing off on potentially-destructive laws like SOPA in the process).
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Monday Morning Links -
Posted: January 30th, 2012, 4:04am MST
US Voters: Censorship is a Bigger Problem Than Piracy torrentfreak.com
What the Green Bay Packers can teach us about broadband gigaom.com
Dutch ISPs Defy Hollywood, Refuse To Block The Pirate Bay torrentfreak.com
Web economy will double from $2.3 trillion to $4.2 trillion by 2016: Google bbc.co.uk
T-Mobile raises the stakes: Full Monty smartphone deal offers unlimited everything broadbandgenie.co.uk
Wi-Fi Alliance: There s nothing Super about white spaces broadband gigaom.com
Twitter's new censorship plan rouses global furor physorg.com
Kindle Fire dwarfs other Android tablets in market share after just three months arstechnica.com
Feds: Megaupload User Data Could Be Gone Thursday npr.org
Nation's First CTO Exiting multichannel.com
Federal agents, prosecuters fear Anonymous-like online retaliation in pursuing MegaUpload case wsj.com
Waiters tote tablets, wine lists via Wi-Fi tri-cityherald.com
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