Lawmaker probes Big Ten network access
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House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell said Monday he was concerned about the ability of fans to watch Big Ten sporting events on a new television network debuting this summer.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Congress still needs to deal with network neutrality, and supporters in Congress are willing to block any legislation favored by broadband providers until the issue is resolved, a leading Democratic lawmaker said Wednesday. "Network neutrality is a large, unresolved debate," said Representative Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat, speaking at the State of the 'Net Conference in Washington, D.C. "It's [the Internet's] open and accessible policy that has enabled it to be a platform of innovation." A net neutrality law, which would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors,Â stalled in Congress in 2006, and large broadband providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, opposed efforts to pass a law. But net neutrality advocates -- many of them part of the Democratic majority that now controls both houses of Congress -- would block any legislation requested by the large broadband providers until a net neutrality compromise is hammered out, Boucher predicted. Last year, AT&T and Verizon pushed for a new law that would streamline the franchising process they must go through to offer television over IP service in competition with cable TV. But this year, the large broadband providers have largely backed off on their lobbying efforts, and Boucher suggested that's because Democrats will demand a net neutrality law as a trade-off for any legislation that benefits providers. Boucher supports a net neutrality law, but he called for compromise. Congress should not pass a net neutrality law with "unintended consequences" that hurt the development of the Internet, he said. "I don't want to do anything ... that has the effect of hobbling innovation inside the network," he added. Other speakers at the conference, sponsored by the bipartisan Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus, suggested a net neutrality law would hurt efforts to increase broadband adoption in the U.S. A net neutrality law would limit broadband providers' options for providing new services, said George Ford, chief economist at the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies, a free-market-focused think tank. "We should exercise discipline," Ford said. "We rarely do that with communications policy." Other speakers argued there's little evidence of broadband providers blocking competitors' Web content, a scenario net neutrality advocates want to prevent. "Economic change and technological change need room to breathe," said Christopher Yoo, a tech law professor at Vanderbilt University. If broadband providers eventually take action that harms customers and competition, then Congress should pass a law, Yoo said. Yoo and David Farber, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, argued that broadband providers need the ability to block Internet content such as spam and to shut down Web applications that hog bandwidth. Providers should also be allowed to prioritize Web applications such as video or voice, allowing customers to have a high quality of service, Farber said. "If you try to get quality of service for everyone, you don't get quality of service," Farber said. But Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia University Law School, said providers should only block Web content in the most extreme circumstances. The difference between "good blocking" and "bad blocking" depends on the user's perspective, he said. "Blocking should be highly suspect," Wu added. "We say good blocking is good and bad blocking is bad, but so does the Chinese government. They're making bad decisions at the center [of the network]."
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By Adam Smeltz, The Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.  Sep.
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A proposed Pennsylvania law on its way to the governor's desk could pose a hurdle for Philadelphia's ambitious plan to provide broadband Wi-Fi service throughout the city by mid-2006.
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The bill requires the F.C.C. to assess whether broadband providers are interfering with consumersâ rights to access, send, receive or offer content, applications and services over networks.
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Lawmakers debating whether Congress should step in to stop the imposition of dramatically higher royalties fees on Internet streaming music providers heard testimony this morning from people involved in small businesses throughout the independent music economy: a private webcaster, two artists, two indie record producers, a public broadcaster, and the president of the nation's leading musicians' union.
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As usual, the Big Ten coaches were out in full force at today&#39;s Big Ten Teleconference. Both OSU head coach Jim Tressel and Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz offered some thoughts on the upcoming game between OSU
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Democratic Senators seek federal probe of plan to air anti-Kerry film 2 weeks before election day. NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - At least 18 Democratic senators are seeking a federal probe of Sinclair Broadcast Group&#39;s
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The Big Ten Networkâs opening game, between Appalachian State and Michigan, was supposed to illustrate the channelâs lesser-quality product. But the match up was far from mediocre.
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A top homeland security lawmaker has called for an investigation into possible cyber attacks on computer systems at the Homeland Security Department.
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(InfoWorld) - A Michigan man has been fined $400 and must work 40 hours of community service for using a local cafÃ©'s Wi-Fi connection from his parked car to check his e-mail and surf the Web. He got off easy, according to the local TV station that reported the case: Under Michigan computer access law, using a Wi-Fi connection without authorization is a felony, punishable by as much a $10,000 fine and five years in prison. But the story raises more questions than it answers, including whether the cafÃ©'s Wi-Fi connection was a fee-based service, which would imply authorization was required, or a free service that, without any security restrictions, could be accessed by anyone within range, including someone outside the restaurant. The story also doesn't say whether the defendant, Sam Peterson II, of Sparta, Ill., was convicted of the crime or pled to the charge. Peterson routinely drove to Sparta's Re-Union Street Caf, to check his e-mail but never went into the coffee shop. His regular routine drew the attention of Sparta Police Chief Andrew Milanowski, who asked Peterson what he was doing. Peterson told him. After checking the Michigan statutes, the chief swore out a complaint of fraudulent computer access.ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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HAMILTON, Mont. -- Sen. Conrad Burns gazed at a debate audience and asked if anyone could guess who was blocking efforts in Washington to control health-care costs.
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RICHMOND, Sept. 21 -- A Republican state legislator from Fairfax County has launched an attack ad on cable TV against his Democratic opponent that features unidentified, unverified quotes from a blog.
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Fines of up to $500,000 per  violation for indecent material aired on broadcast television  and radio were unveiled by a top U.S. House of Representatives  lawmaker on Tuesday, renewing a campaign to clean up  broadcasting that failed last year.
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By Miriam Hill, The Philadelphia Inquirer  Dec. 8--WASHINGTON -- Sen. Arlen Specter's hearing yesterday was supposed to focus on whether cable companies such as Comcast Corp. can wield sports programming like a club to inhibit competition.
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By DANIEL PIKE STAFF WRITER  The economic future of many rural Illinois towns might hinge on the availability of high-speed Internet access, according to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.
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Two key sponsors of legislation that would effectively codify the meaning of "net neutrality" asked the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee to hold public hearings into the motivations of Comcast and other broadband service providers in filtering certain categories of traffic.